Three's A Crowd, Four's A Party
by raaeebrucee
Summary: What happens when Vince throws Bobbi in with the Hounds of Justice? She's used to people being like Russian dolls, he's used to staying hidden, and things don't quite work out how either of them had intended - but they have each other. And that's the most important thing, right? Right? (OC/Dean Ambrose) (semi kinda kayfabe compliant, but not really?) (slow-burn) (COMPLETED)
1. Chapter 1

**NEW STORY. my other one is still being written, but i started writing this thing a little while ago. if you're interested in what my idea for this OC looks like, go check out my polyvore profile under the name 'raaeebrucee', there's one set that is just called** ** _diva_** **and another one that's called** ** _look for B.A first part of c1_** **.**

 **the idea for her gimmick came from a Black Sails character called Anne Bonny - completely badass and all that.**

 **unlike my last one, this will be kinda sorta semi-kayfabe compliant, ring names are used as personal names unless, of course, someone like Undertaker shows up, in which case i'll warn you before hand (f.y.i, his name is Mark)**

 **i have a lot of plans for this story - psychotic episodes, crazy ex boyfriends, sexy times… lots of things that mostly revolve around what happens during Raw and Smackdown - a couple of scenes here and there outside, but not much.**

 **no idea the length yet, but i'll let you know when i figure it out**

 **in the mean time, meet my new spirit animal (she's a total bamf, the complete opposite of me).**

—

 **CHAPTER ONE**

Bobbi Arlett, at just 28 years of age, had accomplished many things in her life. Things that made her world spin, things that made her life like a dream. And of those things, if you told her that she'd achieve being a main member of the most dominant stable of the WWE, she would have told you that you were crazy - that she could never have been able to work in a group with egos just as big as hers.

In fact, Bobbi Arlett was pretty much completely unknown to the larger wrestling society until someone had recognised her at an NXT event.

"Is that Bobbi Arlett?"

"Who?"

"You know, that crazy chick from the indy circuits?"

"No idea, man."

"C'mon! You heard of her! She fucking slammed a light beam over a referees head and laughed as he was carted off, she went fucking _psychotic_ on an opponent and split her head open, that's fucking Bobbi fucking Arlett, dude!"

They quickly hushed when she stood, silver and black hair falling over her shoulder as she looked back at the men. Didn't say a word, just winked and walked off.

She wasn't hard to miss, Bobbi. The ombre in her hair changed from silver at her shoulder blades to a very harsh black, a sleeve tattoo of guns and roses and a women's clown-made-up face that ran down her left arm, light hazel brown eyes that pierced through anything that moved - she wasn't hard to miss at all.

Word got around quick after the show. A phone call from one of the producers who had seen her work and was a fan landed her at a try-out event in Tampa the next day, set her up with another hopeful so they could sort out the match. And Bobbi was happy to take the pin as long as she got to show off a little - her fast paced style and attack first, ask questions later attitude was sure to grab attention. That's all she wanted.

Her intentions after that were somewhat impure.

She'd seen the rise of The Shield, the hounds of justice, had seen herself reflected in each one of them. She saw herself in the way Dean laid his body on the line, saw herself in Seth's agility in the ring, saw herself in the strong and silent way Roman carried himself. She wanted to _pull them apart_ by the seams, one stitch at a time.

Yet she also wanted to join them. To become the most powerful female in the history of sports entertainment. To be held in a class so prestigious that few were present.

And so that's how she came to be part of the most dominant stable in the WWE's history.

—

"Have you seen this?"

Hunter glanced over table, looking at his father-in-law and frowning. "Seen what?"

"This Bobbi Arlett," was Vince's only reply. He squinted back at the screen, glasses propped on the edge of his nose and mouth open as he concentrated back on what he was watching.

"Heard of her. Stephanie mentioned something about her getting signed to NXT a couple of weeks ago."

Vince nodded. "She's good."

"Good?"

Hunter was surprised. Never had Vince complimented a female wrestler so full-heartedly and so quickly.

"Yeah," Vince nodded again, then looked up at Hunter. "Come watch this."

He unbuckled his seatbelt, stood and walked up the centre aisle of the small jet, and popped his head over Vince's shoulder to watch the match.

Two females were in the ring, one purely in faux leather, the other in colourful spandex shorts - Charlotte. Hunter tilted his head as he looked at the other wrestler. The long black leather pants and blue cropped top stood out against her lighter skin, the tattoo on her arm glistening with sweat.

"Charlotte's got her done for," he commented shortly.

"No, no, no, just wait."

Hunter sighed. Then watched as the dual-hair-toned female fought her way out of a submission hold. She dived out of the ring, smirked. Waited for Charlotte to hop out and run at her. And then the newer diva hooked her arm over the others neck, changed her momentum to drive her head-first into the metal stairs. Bobbi picked her up, spun Charlotte around her and into the barricade with such momentum the the black padding shifted back a few notable inches.

"She's got power," Hunter finally conceded, nodding his head, "that's for sure."

Once back in the ring, Bobbi laid Charlotte out on the mat, locked in the other divas submission finisher, a figure four leg lock, and arched her back into the bridge Charlotte was known for. Eventually, her opponent tapped out.

"And she steals other people's finishers…?" Hunter trailed off, looking skeptically at Vince who only nodded enthusiastically.

"You see, that's her thing. She sizes up her opponents, wrestles how they wrestle, uses their finishers and signature moves to get inside their heads. If that's not enough, she whips out her own arsenal of moves. I'll tell you now, Hunter; this girl's gonna be big some day."

Hunter only pursed his lips. Then he was nodding, staring at the older man in front of him. "What are her promo skills like?"

The smirk that formed on Vince's face was all Hunter needed to know. "Now you wait just a second," he mumbled as he turned back to his computer, tapping away at the keys, slowly saying aloud what he was typing, "Bobbi Arlett backstage segment."

After enlarging the screen, he took his hands away from the keys and sat back.

Hunter looked more closely at the female staring at the camera. Half of her silver hair fell across her right eye, the rest tucked behind her left ear. Her lips were stained red, eyes lined in dark kohl.

"Bobbi, victory tonight over Charlotte, but the question on a lot of fans minds right now… what's your game plan here at NXT?"

She smirked then, ran her tongue over her bottom lip. "What's my game plan here at NXT? That's the question?"

"You've been here for a month now, used finishers that don't belong to you and you've repeatedly said that you're not interested in the NXT Women's Champion title… so that doesn't really say much-"

"I'm not here to mess around with a title," she laughed. "These women that work here, they won't know what hit them. I'll blaze a trail of what they could have become right in their faces and they won't even be able to do their own moves without remembering that someone did it _better_ than them."

Bobbi paused, ran a hand through her hair to get the silver tendrils away from her face. "What you saw tonight with Charlotte was just a preview of what's to come. When anyone steps into a ring with me… they court _death_."

The interview ended as she turned her back on the camera, but Hunter was too stunned by the fire in her eyes the notice that the video clip had ended.

"What do ya' think, huh?" Vince asked excitedly, words running into each other.

A small grin started to spread across Hunter's face and his eyes lifted from the floor to stare at his father-in-law once more. "I think we have ourselves a new top heel."

The older man slapped his shoulder with a wide smile. "Thats the spirit."

—

Bobbi stood facing the mirror, gave herself a quick once over, touched up the bright red lipstick on her lips. The leather jacket was pulled tight around her shoulders and core, her ripped skinny jeans clinging to her legs. The four inch boots that pushed her height up to six foot were actually surprisingly comfortable.

And it was now or never. To walk into the WWE headquarters in Stamford and secure her spot on the most watched sports entertainment show in history. Without really wanting to admit it, Bobbi was anxious to get it out of the way with.

When she arrived at the building, one of the ladies at the front desk smiled and told her to make her way up onto the twelfth floor and wait there for another person to grab her.

"Bobbi Arlett, right?"

She nodded at the older looking woman and then followed her down a hallway and into a spacious office, walked right into room like a deer in headlights. She was staring at three of the most influential people in the company; Stephanie McMahon, Hunter Hermsley, and Vince McMahon.

"Welcome to headquarters, Bobbi," Vince started. He stood from his chair and walked around the desk to clasp his hands around hers. "It's a pleasure to meet you, big fan of your work."

Bobbi's mouth dropped a little and she blinked at the iconic man standing in front of her. "Fan? Of me?"

"He plays your videos on repeat," Hunter remarked, shooting a wink at the tall woman in front of him. "Take a seat, we'll get right to it."

After shaking each of their hands and getting over her initial shock and excitement, Bobbi settled back into the seat and listened to their plans for her future.

Stephanie was the one who started first. "So, as you're aware, we've called you in here today to discuss a future position within the WWE roster. We've all watched your work at NXT and we're impressed with your gimmick, your promos, your entire look."

"We want you to start with us the night after SummerSlam. We're throwing you in the deep end, Bobbi, but only because we know you can handle it. The chemistry you bring to the ring is tangible and you've got quite a following from your days back in the indy circuit," Hunter said. "And in fact, now that we're onto that, we can't really find any videos from your matches back then, so one of the first things we'll get you to do is point us in the right direction. We want to see where you came from, what made you into the wrestler standing before us."

Bobbi looked him in the eye then, tilted her head. "You might not like what you find."

"Why's that?" Hunter asked. A frown was set on his face, but he didn't look too perturbed.

"Most of the stuff I was involved in was extremely hardcore. Lots of blood, lots of impromptu and stupid decisions…" She looked up at Vince then, eyes burning with honesty. "I don't want to get off on the wrong foot right out of the blocks, but I need to be completely honest with you; I've been charged twice with assault because of my actions."

Stephanie nodded then. "Don't worry, we've heard of that. What were the circumstances, if I can ask?"

A smile crossed Bobbi's face, fingers tapping on the chair arm. "I was nineteen when the first one happened, young and stupid, but I smashed a light beam over a referees head because he got in my way. Mostly it was a mistake, and when he realised he dropped the charges. The second one was because I punched one of the girls across the face in a promo… that one was not so accidental, but she dropped the charges when she punched me back."

"So these were around ten years ago, then?"

Bobbi nodded. "I'm not proud of it, but I can't really go back and change it, so I live with it and I move on with life."

Vince smiled at her attitude, completely taken with her. "We appreciate your honestly, Miss Arlett. I hope nothing changes in that respect."

Glancing at his watch, Hunter stood. "I have to get on a flight in an hour, please excuse me. I'll see you tonight, Steph." He kissed his wife on the cheek and slapped his hand on Vince's back, then walked around to shake Bobbi's hand once more. "I look forward to seeing you out on the road."

It was quiet in the office for a moment after his departure, but then Stephanie was shuffling papers and resuming the meeting.

"Did you bring an indy tape with you?" She asked, smiling when Bobbi handed over an old looking DVD case. "Great. I'm sure when James called you, he told you a lot about the position you'd be getting, but I always prefer things down on paper. The blue folder in front of you is your schedule for the next month travel wise, the red one is where your character will be heading, the grey one your outfit design, your general look, and a couple of promotional suggestions to set up some titantron footage for your theme."

Vince took over then, smile spreading on his face, eyes wide with anticipation. "Because we liked your character so much, we don't really want to change a thing. So once you come out of this storyline, you'll keep your entrance music and your gimmick. But with what you're being thrown into, there are somethings that we need your approval on."

As Bobbi took the folders off the bench, she flipped the red one open on her lap, her eyes widening. In big bold letters at the top of the page were the words **The Shield**. She bit her lip to contain the grin that was beginning to form on her face.

"You're throwing me in with the hounds of justice?"

The older man smiled at her reaction. "I thought you'd like that. The way you carry your gimmick is like the three of them wrapped up into one."

Big grin on her face now, Bobbi closed the folder, looked back up at the two people in front of her. "I promise you that I'll be worth your time."

"Oh, we know you will," Stephanie affirmed her. "You know, at first Hunter was skeptical about you. He didn't really see what we saw until my father showed him a promo you did on NXT; you said that anyone who competitively stepped into the ring with you was courting death. The way you pulled off that statement, the fire in your eyes… Hunter was sold. Your work in the ring is outstanding, you're fit beyond words. Bobbi, we're prepared to back you all the way through this journey. Give us your everything and we'll give you this company."

—

When Bobbi walked out of the room, a hand was over her pounding heart. That had gone… super surprisingly well.

And the first thing she did when she stepped out of the building was dial a number and press the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"I'm in."

There was a shuffling noise and then a curse, but surely enough a voice spoke down the line. "What do you mean you're in? Barbara, are you fucking with me?"

Bobbi laughed at the use of her biological name, running a hand through her hair. "Not even, Bray."

"That's awesome. That's so freaking awesome, doll! When d'you start?"

"August 19th, Raw after SummerSlam. When you have your first match."

Bray laughed down the phone. "I'm gonna have a field day when Wade sees your face, it's going to be priceless."

Where Bray was going to be portrayed on television as a cult leader, he was almost the exact opposite outside of the ring. With two daughters, a comedic streak that never really got tiring, and advice for even the wisest people, Bray Wyatt was one of her closest friends in the business - if not her closest.

Wade Barrett, on the other hand… that was a different story.

"Yeah, yeah," she laughed back. "I need to get back to the apartment, pack my shit. They're having me do all sorts of promotional stuff so they can set up introducing me into the universe."

"Thanks for the call, doll, I'll see you in a few weeks."

—

Bobbi's promos were effectively seductive yet creepy. That was what the creative team had pushed when they'd seen some of her mic work.

Stephanie had sent her the finished video - a short feature piece that showed a closeup of her face, tongue slowly running along her upper lip and hair draped over her right eye as they burned into the camera. The soundtrack backing the clip was a distinct heart beat, but when the screen changed to show her against harsh lights, her voice rang out; "When anyone steps into the ring with me… they court _death_." A montage of her best work was then shown, heavy guitar riff setting the pace. When it ended, she was shown sitting down on a chair during an 'interview'. "What are your plans?" A male voice asked and Bobbi smirked. "To tear the world down."

The weeks had slowly began to bleed into mere days, and on the Friday before SummerSlam, Bobbi was called into another meeting - this time, she was set to meet the three men who would be her indefinite partners.

"Bobbi," Hunter said as she answered the phone. "Glad I caught you. We're going to fly you across to the Staples Centre on Saturday afternoon, but wanted you to come back to Stamford tomorrow to meet the Shield."

So when Bobbi turned up on Friday morning, slightly disheveled looking in some ripped jeans and an over sized jumper, she really wasn't expecting the boys to be so… _good looking_ in person.

"Seth, Dean, Roman… this is Bobbi Arlett," Stephanie beamed. She looked smug, extremely proud of herself as she watched the boys stand and shake Bobbi's outstretched hand.

She smiled at each of them. "Nice to meet you finally."

Each smiled back at them, but one in particular caught her eyes - Dean Ambrose. Pale blue eyes, fluffy dirty blonde hair, thick chest and shoulders that slimmed down into a narrow waist. _This was him_ , she thought, _this was the one she would take_.

The meeting went to plan, Seth asking most of the questions of where their story-line would go - apparently he'd lost the folder - and where Bobbi would fit into things.

"Something that my father and I have been avidly discussing is the inclusion of Bobbi in some of your matches," Stephanie said slowly. Bobbi frowned and tilted her head, but bit her lip to hold her words. "That doesn't mean she'll be in the ring wrestling against guys, just means that she can aid with some distractions, use a couple of the guys' moves on them, simple stuff. If we get the right crowd reaction, we'll push it a bit further."

"When's she comin' in then?"

Bobbi's skin crawled, hairs standing on end as she let the gravelly voice resonate in her head. When she looked over at Dean, he was slumped in the chair with his head resting against his fist, fingers tapping his thigh. He looked like he'd love to be anywhere else but here and Bobbi made a mental note about his mannerisms.

"On Monday night, you'll continue working for Hunter as enforcers. We'll show her arriving at the arena in a short promo, and when we do Randy's championship coronation, she'll be by Hunter's side. That's the general idea, anyway. She'll be with you guys, but also with us."

—

The flight to Los Angeles was long. She'd gone from Florida to Connecticut then to California like it was nothing, but slowly the long plan rides were beginning to catch up with her. She stepped out onto the bridge of the massive airport, grabbed her things, and was about to call Bray when she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye.

Tall and intruding, Dean Ambrose was standing opposite her carousel and leaning on the glass. _Had they sent him to come pick her up?_ When the man realised her eyes were on him, he pushed off the glass and made his way over to her.

"They send the calvary to come get me, or just you?" Bobbi deadpanned. He took a bag from her hand and walked away without saying a word. Donned on his face were thick black sunglasses, cap pulled low to avoid being recognised by fans.

"The boys are waiting in the car," Dean mumbled over his shoulder. _Talkative_ , Bobbi though sarcastically. "Reigns wanted to get you used to the way things work with us."

"Right," Bobbi breathed.

When she reached the car, Reigns and Rollins were already out and walking over to meet them. "Good to see you again, Bobbi," Roman greeted, grin wide on his face.

Bobbi nodded in response and handed her bag over to him so he could throw it in the back with her other one. Rollins frowned at the lack of baggage and turned to give Bobbi a strange look. "You didn't really pack much…"

She shrugged. "Don't really need to. A couple of jeans, some tops, two jackets, my shoes… I'm not really a heavy packer."

Roman snorted. "Seth has more bags than you."

"Shut up."

They jumped into the car, Bobbi and Seth in the back while Dean drove, and the banter continued between the two tag-team champions.

"So, Bobbi," Seth grinned as he turned towards the woman. "Tell us about yourself."

Bobbi smirked. "My name's Bobbi Arlett, I'm 27 and a Leo. I enjoy long walks on the beach, frisky men, and lots and lots of booze." Seth and Roman chuckled, but the driver remained silent, so Bobbi became serious. "What do you wanna know?"

"I dunno… are you good in the kitchen?"

With a laugh, Bobbi shook her head. "Not really, no. I can make a mean scrambled eggs, though."

Seth's eyes almost rolled back into his head and Bobbi let out another laugh.

"Morning or night?"

"Night."

"Drive or watch?"

"Drive."

"Trish Stratus or Lita?"

She hummed at that, pursing her lips. "Ronda Rousey."

"You're in," Roman laughed. "Okay. So tell us what exactly you're going to be doing with us then."

Bobbi shrugged. "Dunno. I'm not wrestling any of the divas, that's for certain, but I think Stephanie wants to push me more of a pawn for the Authority than a Shield member for now."

"You're not gonna be a diva?"

"Again, I don't know." Bobbi looked at Ambrose's confused eyes in the mirror. "They're not really pushing that, I guess, more just with me helping you guys and the Authority out."

"But you come to be with us over time?"

"I think so," the woman affirmed. "I think we eventually get into an argument or something and then I'm with you almost one hundred percent."

Seth pursed his lips in contentment. "Y'know, when they first said they were going to bring you in I was kinda shocked, but then I watched a match where you were put against a guy and you freakin' broke him in half and I was sold."

Bobbi laughed at that, throwing a hand over her face and groaning. "Great. I know the exact one you're talking about." Seth laughed along with her, then. "I get that a lot, you know. The whole, 'I don't know' turning into a 'hell yeah'."

"Well it's one thing when you can talk the talk," Roman offered, "but it's a completely different thing when you can walk the walk, y'know?"

She nodded and let the silence in the car slowly take over the ride.

"So…" Seth drawled out, "who you rooming with?"

There was another lengthy silence as Bobbi sized the man next to her up. "Seriously?"

He just nodded. "We alternate. I have the room to myself this week and Ro and Dean are in the next one, but next week I'll be with Ro and Dean by himself."

"Huh." Bobbi smirked at the new information. "Looks like you're stuck with me then."

—

 **RAW Live**

 **August 19th**

 **Anaheim, California**

The night after SummerSlam was hot. Bobbi's sweating in the front seat of the car as she waited for her cue to start shooting the promo. Then, there's a tap on the window and it's go-time.

She swung the door open and landed on her feet, giving the camera enough time to pan the length of her body before shoving the door of the car shut. She's donned in her Shield gear and has a toothpick between her lips, silver tendrils falling cross the side of her face, and then she's walking towards the camera and the hopeful interviewer.

"Miss Arlett, if I could just get a… word…"

Bobbi stalked past him, throwing the toothpick over her shoulder before disappearing from sight around the corner.

Stephanie had pulled her aside shortly after and shoved four-inch-heeled boots into her hands, proclaiming that although she would wrestle with her usual flat boots, she needed to be as tall as she could in the ring with the 'big boys'.

Almost ten minutes later, crooked smirk on her face, Bobbi found herself walking out on her first night of the show with Vince and Stephanie McMahon. People booed, some were silent, most were wondering how to react to this woman who had only been shown to them on the promos leading up to SummerSlam.

She didn't expect much - she'd spent just a month and a half at NXT before her movement, and most of her fans from the indy circuit weren't in the state.

Donned in her usual leather lace up boots and leather pants, Bobbi had been given a black utility vest to throw on over her blue spandex crop top; she had to look a part of the Shield if they were going to be a group. Her hair was straight, her piercing eyes line in kohl, lips lined in her iconic red.

" _And walking in beside Vince and Stephanie looks to be Bobbi Arlett_ ," Michael Cole said loudly. " _It seems like she's the new member of the Shield that The Authority has been teasing…_ "

As she propped herself up on the turnbuckle, the rest of the roster soon followed. The Shield descended from the stands of the arena, pushing through booing people, coming to stand outside the ring like enforcers.

When Hunter's music hit, Bobbi smiled to herself. Chills ran up and down her arms because of the atmosphere and this was a feeling she would probably never get used to.

Comically, Vince McMahon spoke into the microphone, throwing his arms up and speaking not only with his words but with his body.

Hunter was next. He messed with the crowd, offered a half-assed explanation as to why he helped crown a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Bobbi sat there and watched Hunter pace back and forth as he delivered his promo, sat there as he called out Randy Orton, sat there as he talked down the microphone, sat there as Hunter took the microphone back to call out Daniel Bryan.

"There he is!" Hunter said, voice bursting with triumph.

The crowd cheered the scruffy looking superstar as he slowly walked forwards. He didn't trust what was about to happen, didn't like the situation, and Bobbi could see that clearly written on his face. When he reached the ring, ambushed by the Shield, Bobbi started laughing.

She gazed on as Daniel Bryan fought his way through an attack by the hounds of justice, Hunter walking over to where Bobbi was sitting on the top turnbuckle. He smiled, motioned over his shoulder, and held out a hand to smooth her jump onto the apron.

And just as Bryan had a clear view of the ring, Bobbi slipped out and crossed her arms over her chest, small smirk on her face.

"Daniel, lets talk about this," Hunter started on the microphone. "Get your feelings out, c'mon."

But he shook his head, glared at Bobbi as he made his way closer to her. And just as he stood in front of her, just as she sat back up onto the apron, Roman shot out from his spot near the barricade and speared him to the floor. It wasn't long until the other Shield boys jumped on him, sending a painful message to the superstar.

The crowd were booing loudly as Bobbi, face like stone, walked back over to her turnbuckle, resuming her seated position at the top, legs crossed over elegantly.

As Hunter stopped the boys from performing a triple power-bomb to the man onto the floor, Bryan managed to find a way to his feet, to crawl into the ring… and right into an RKO. Hunter turned with a smug grin on his face and pointed to Bobbi again, then threw his arms up into the air in a mock 'yes'.

Bobbi's face split into a smirk as her staring eyes burned a fire at the limp figure on the mat. She walked over, grabbed Daniel's arm and fell to her knees, clenching her hands around his face to lock in his own submission move.

He flailed against her strength, voice straining out in yells, and Bobbi's eyes shifted to the pale blue's of Dean. His tongue ghosted out over his bottom lip with a sick smile and she only let go once Hunter had tapped her on the shoulder.

Orton pulled him up, hit him with a second RKO, and then let Triple H pull his hand up in success. Orton's music hit the speakers and Bobbi jumped out of the ring, stood with her new stable as they watched on with seething grins.

—

Bobbi's isn't back on screen until the next Raw, but enough had happened that she didn't really want to feature on SmackDown either.

Wade Barrett had seen her debut and stalked from the building on the Monday night, absolutely fuming and leaving everybody wondering as to why. Bray Wyatt, on the other hand, was more than happy to laugh along with Bobbi as they celebrated their first live event at a local bar.

"Looking beautiful as always, doll," the older man said as he pulled her into a hug. He eyed her hair, lifting up a strand and raising an eyebrow. "What happened to the brown?"

She shrugged. "Brown's boring, Bray. I'm not."

He laughed at her simple answer and then dropped his voice as they walked through the building to get to the car-park. "You heard about Barrett?"

"Of course," was her smug reply. "After what I did to him I wouldn't expect any less."

"He deserved it, he shouldn't be upset with the consequences to his actions. He tried playing your game and you beat him."

It was true. Back when Bobbi was doing her rounds in the indy circuit, Wade had her about her through some friends, became interested in the young woman. He made effort to travel to her shows and inconspicuously watch her performances, so it wasn't long before he heard the rumours and introduced himself to her. If she could pick apart people almost instantly, he would pick her apart. It was like a game. And she'd won.

Obviously he was still sore over the incident and hadn't forgiven her for making a fool of him, but the way he was acting super childish was like a cherry on top for Bobbi.

"So, this sister Abigail," Bobbi started with a smirk. "Based off of anyone?"

Bray rolled his eyes, gently pushed Bobbi's shoulder. "Don't get too full of yourself, Arlett, she's not entirely based off of you."

Bobbi only smiled brightly at him. "'Her touch could save the world, but her kiss burns it to the ground'," she breathed in repetition of the promo he had filmed. "You always had a way with words. You're the eater of worlds and I'm the eater of men."

" _Arlett!_ "

Bobbi flinched, spun on her heels at the sound of the British accent, smirked as he made his way over to her. The area they were in wasn't empty, rather it was full of the superstars who were waiting to sign out, and all the talk slowly died to a whisper.

"You and I need to have a little chat, sweetheart," he hissed at her, brown eyes full with fire and pride.

Bray laughed at him and shook his head. His protective side was in full swing as he stepped forward to stand in the space between the two people. "She has nothing to say to you."

Gently, she put a hand on Bray's shoulder and coaxed him back to her side, glaring daggers at the tall man. About to walk away from the situation, Barrett reached out and gently wrapped his fingers around Bobbi's arm. "No, no, no, you're not walking away from this."

"It's over," she laughed at him, lowered her voice. "You tried and you failed and if you touch me one more time, I will put my fist through your face."

His nostrils flared and then he looked above her head, dropped her hand and turned on his heel. Bobbi wasn't surprised when she turned to find all three Shield members standing with their arms crossed.

She playfully rolled her eyes and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "I had a handle on that, y'know."

Roman smiled down at her. "We know."

"Just wanted to add some fire power, y'now, add some more ingredients to the mix," Seth said, wriggling his eyebrows with a smile.

With the weight of Barrett's reaction no longer looming over her head, Bobbi spent the rest of the night catching up with Bray, drinking until her sight had become fuzzy and her thoughts muddled.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **August 26th**

 **Phoenix, Arizona**

The next Raw started with the three members of the Shield guarding the ring, but after being introduced, the Game walked out. Bobbi didn't walk out with him straight away, instead emerged from the side of the stage with gloved hands and a dangerous look in her eye.

Walking past her new boys, she trailed a hand down Reigns' arm and sent him a wink - then climbed onto the turnbuckles, threw one leg over the other, and leaned back against the rope.

Bobbi understood that she was more flippant than she intended to come across, but the camera still panned across her face every now and then as Hunter talked and caught whist of the dare in her eyes. She was part of the Authority more than she was a Shield member, and slowly the universe was beginning to understand that, but she still had a wish to be involved more deeply in their storyline. And instead, she was being portrayed as a personal security detail for The Game and Stephanie McMahon.

As Hunter talked down the microphone, Bobbi couldn't help but let her gaze drift to the United States Champion. His broad shoulders, heavy chest, slim waist, long legs. She didn't know him very well personally, and in fact he was very quiet when he was around her, but it was something she wanted to change very quickly.

With the WWE Crowd chanting 'what' every time Hunter paused in his speech, Bobbi started to mimic them, mouthing the word with a playful smirk. Rollins threw a look over his shoulder, fought off a smirk and gently shook his head - Bobbi's only reaction was an eye-roll.

"And it is all due to one man, one man who is the new face of the WWE. I would like for you to show your respect right now as I bring that man out here," Hunter continued. "Please welcome your champion, your future, what you deserve; your new WWE champion, the viper Randy Orton!"

His music hit the speakers, crowd jeering at the chiseled man walking down the ring. He slipped past the Shield, looked down at his title, and then walked up the ramp. Orton's eyes locked on hers for a long as he smirked and then entered the ring with a satisfied smug look.

As the segment rolled on, she stopped a little chuckle from escaping when Daniel Bryan made his entrance to stare at the brand new Cadillac Escalade that Hunter had just gifted Orton. Secretly, Bobbi admired Bryan. He looked scruffy, unkept, but she admired the way he went about his business and admired the way he never gave up.

"…to thank everybody in the WWE universe; because I'm not the biggest, I'm not the strongest, I'm not the prettiest, I mean obviously that's twinkle-toes Orton in there," Daniel Bryan said, continuing his promo, and now Bobbi couldn't help but laugh at the little stab at Randy.

And when Hunter got his revenge by calling him Jimminy Snickets, Bobbi laughed even harder, threw her head back in delight. Randy fixed her with a grinning look.

The gauntlet match against the three boys was announced shortly after, and that was it for the opening. With a helping hand from Reigns to jump off the turnbuckle, Bobbi walked with the boys backstage, keeping her arm wrapped around Roman the entire journey and smirk on her face.

—

" _Sierra Hotel India Echo Lima Delta_ , _The Shield_."

As the Shield descended from the rafters, Bobbi trailed after them. A fair way back and protected from the audience by single security guard, she hoisted herself over the barricade first, helping hand from Dean Ambrose. Situating herself so that she was sitting cross-legged on the barricade that separated the ring from the time-keepers corner, she watched as the match between Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins took place.

Back and forth rollups, a high kick, vertical drop; Seth and Daniel went at it _hard,_ and though Seth was talented enough to beat the scruffy man, a German suplex from the top ropes delivered by Bryan was the beginning to his ultimate end.

Dean Ambrose didn't wait for Daniel to even recover or celebrate from his win before jumping in and nailing hit after hit, but Bobbi has for once ignored the United States Champion and instead ran to Rollins' aid.

She put a hand against his cheek, checked the back of his head for any sign of a split scalp, and then helped Roman pull him to his feet just in time to watch Daniel Bryan power through to the 'Yes' lock.

Roman was in the ring then. He landed a swift blow to the back of Bryan's head, broke up the submission move, pulled Dean away. Bobbi jumped up to the apron, already prepared to step in if she was needed, which was apparently sooner than later - Bryan had slipped his legs over Roman's arms and pulled him down into the 'Yes' lock. He hadn't even held it for a second before Bobbi's dropkick planted right in the back of his skull. Moments later, Roman had his revenge by slamming him with a spear.

The Game's music roared around the arena as her boys stalked an incapacitated Bryan. Bobbi kneeled in the corner, flicking her hair back over her shoulder, watched Triple H point at her and mimic the 'yes' chant. With a smirk, she sized up the superstar on the mat, then slid over and wrapped her legs around his arm, clenched her hands against his face and pulled back as hard as she could. Above her, Reigns was mouthing off at him, yelling 'tap out, it's over!'

Hunter gave another nod when she let go, and then the three Shield members hoisted Daniel Bryan up onto Reigns' shoulders and triple power-bombed him to the mat.

" _And the Shield doing Triple H's dirty work again!_ "

After an RKO on the limp, defenceless body of Daniel Bryan, Bobbi stood with the Shield, pressed her fist against the other three, and smiled without humour at the crowd reaction.


	2. Chapter 2

**thought to myself as a little gift for getting this baby past 30,000 words id upload the second chapter... like a blessing... idk  
tell me what you like, tell me what you hate, yeah? obviously i have to comb through each event for little tidbits and it's a bit tedious, but ive made my bed and now i have to lie in it. with that being said, i'm going to deviate a bit from what actually happens. mostly focus on the event tapings, w/e. **

**PLEASE COMMENT if you like it! i want to put up more but dont know whether it's good or not.**

 **but enjoy anyway :)**

* * *

 **SmackDown taping**

 **August 27th**

 **Las Vegas, Nevada**

"We're super happy with the way you're character is being received," Stephanie said when she pulled her aside that night. "You're exactly what we need you to be at the moment, Bobbi, and ratings are higher than ever."

Bobbi smiled at the praise as Seth gently slapped her on the shoulder. "Thanks, Steph."

"Tomorrow night on our SmackDown taping, we wanna have you shadow Hunter. We want this imposing, dangerous air to be around you, like it is with the Shield, and we think that if we show you the right way, you'll be a star."

And so that's what she does on her first ever SmackDown.

She shadowed Hunter to the ring during the Miz TV segment, came out from the side of the stage. The audience was loud in their distaste, but she still set up in her position on the top turnbuckle to casually watch the events unfold.

When Hunter put Dolph Ziggler in a match with the Shield, she sent him a little wave over The Game's shoulder, blowing him a kiss. And when Randy Orton was called out for the Match against The Miz, Bobbi jumped from her spot, landing with a dull thud.

She stood up, flipped her hair over her shoulder and waited for Randy to walk up to her. Fingernails as red as her lips, she traced a hand over his shoulder and inched up onto her tiptoes.

"Look at him," she said loud enough for the camera to hear, "scared and lonely."

The WWE Champion laughed at her. When Hunter's hand sat heavy on her back, she simply walked away from the two and sat back on the steel steps, crossing her legs and waiting for her boys to make their way down from the rafters.

The match-up wasn't boring - at least not in her terms - but Bobbi was more entertained by the way Seth was shifting foot to foot, almost restless. She slowly stood up, walked over to the tag team champion, leant against the barricade next to him.

"Bored?" She asked quietly.

Seth gave her a sidelong glance and then smirked. "Something like that. Thought you were supposed to be a shadow."

"I convinced Steph to let me stay."

It was very sudden, but Bobbi's attention was pulled to the superstars in the ring when Randy hit The Miz with an RKO. His music was blaring across the speakers but he was only pointing at her. She knew exactly what he wanted, drove both of her fists into Rollins' chest to get him riled up, and then slipped into the ring.

Her boys went after the fallen superstar, kicking and hitting and keeping him incapacitated, and then when he wouldn't pose a threat, Bobbi pulled his legs up around hers and fell into the figure four lock that he had just used on Orton. The crowd was screaming and the superstars around her were laughing and it was such a mix of emotions that hit Bobbi that she had to bite back her yells.

But when Bryan's theme hit, the boys pulled her off and quiet literally rolled her out of the ring just in time to avoid a chair shot to her back. Instead, Rollins paid the ultimate price for her. She was up and around the ring then, hand on the back of his neck and under his arm as she half pushed and half dragged him up the ramp, and it seemed like the other two had escaped just in time. It was the first time she had been forced to retreat with them.

Not even twenty minutes later and Bobbi was warming up in the elevator, shaking out her muscles in the tight space. "You boys got a game plan?"

"Something like that," Dean muttered. "You gonna be in your spot?"

She nodded back at him. She now had two spots that were recognisably 'hers' - the turnbuckle above the steel stairs and the barricade of the time keepers booth. Something that she was immensely proud of given the fact that she'd only participated in three live shows.

Roman set his large hands down on her arms as the door opened and guided her out through the unimpressed people being held back. Some of them were booing, some of them were shouting the boys' names, some of them, surprisingly, were shouting hers. When the sound of their theme started, the large Samoan man dropped his hands and let her resume her spot at the back of the pack.

With the Big Show set at the side of the ring, like he had been since the start of the show, Bobbi felt uneasy. She was up on the padded barricade, and though her back wasn't exactly to him, he was still a dangerous man.

It was a little bit of a secret that Bobbi fancied the Show Off. He was a known womaniser, liked to flirt with anyone who was female and attractive, but never actually slept with them. When Bobbi had found that out she'd been shocked into silence.

Hitting the bottom of the ramp, Dolph walked all the way around the ring, eyes staring right at Bobbi as he made his way over. He wasn't smiling, in fact didn't look impressed at all, so she couldn't really help the smug look that crossed her face when she smirked.

" _Hey!_ " Dean shouted at Dolph, grabbing his attention. "Don't forget who your opponents are!"

Seth started the match, Dolph throwing vicious hits to both of the boys on the apron, and seemed to have the disadvantage - but not for long; a quick tag in for Roman Reigns and a little bit of a squabble made for a quick power return to the stable.

A tag in for Ambrose meant more for Dolph to fight back against.

"Come on, Dolph," he mocked. A stomp to the hand, whack to the face. Dean glanced to his right, shared a gloating smirk with Bobbi.

The crowd started chanting ' _we want Ziggler_ ' and when Dolph was thrown heavily into the far turnbuckles, Dean's hair was in disarray. He gave the giant a smirk, then continued it when he looked at Bobbi again. She didn't know why, very suddenly, he was showing her more character.

The Shield picked up the win over Ziggler after a sneaky tag and some smart thinking, then gloated at Big Show over the limp body of the fallen superstar.

Bobbi made quick work to get off her ass, slipped into the ring and knelt down so her face was level with Dolph's. She grabbed his wet hair. Pulled back his head as he writhed on the floor. "Make sure to be wiser in your next moves," her threat. And then she slammed his head down on the apron and stood.

Dean waited for him to crawl to the ropes. And as soon as he reached them, the United States Champion dashed forward and paraded the hurt man in front of the giant who couldn't have done a thing.

Seth was taunting him, "Come on, come on, come on!", then turned to Ambrose with a look of disgust on his face and yelled "he ain't coming!"

Staying against the rope, Bobbi stared at the Big Show as Ambrose and Rollins lifted Dolph up onto the Samoan's shoulders, laughed as they pushed him down in a triple power-bomb. Laughed as she watched Show's face contort from being upset to being mad. And then left with the boys as they launched over the barricades and back into the stands.

Back in the elevator, Seth slung an arm across Bobbi's shoulder. "The crowd _hated_ you out there."

"The best compliment they could ever give," laughed Bobbi. Seth and Roman agreed and then started talking quietly about the upcoming appearance. In a daring move, she reached up to ruffle Dean's hair. "Fluffy is better."

The man playfully rolled his eyes at her and fought the grin on his face. Yet he didn't smooth it back into place.

"Right, so you're off to Hunter?" Roman asked when they reached the bottom.

Bobbi nodded at him. "Yeah, I shove him out after Big Show jumps up onto the apron."

He looked at her a little more closely, approving smile on his face. "You're doing really well, you know. I know they're not giving you any matches for a while, but with the impact you're having right now, they don't really need you to."

"Thanks, big guy," she chuckled, "Means a lot to me."

Roman put a gentle hand on her shoulder, guided her away from the two shorter boys. "I'll walk you back to Hunter."

She laughed at him in distaste and quickly shrugged his hand off. "I don't need a protection detail, Ro."

"Doesn't matter, I wanted to talk to you anyway."

"Okay?"

Looking over his shoulder, Roman threw his arm back around Bobbi's shoulders. "Dean mentioned something the other night, yeah? He doesn't want to put you off or anything with how quiet he's being, but that's just how he is until you kinda break him in."

 _Ah._ Bobbi understood now exactly why Roman had wanted to walk her alone. She had been the life of a quiet night in with the boys, firing off remarks at the simple video game they were playing, calling the boys 'dickheads' with endearment. She'd been tipsy, very happy, and had literally collapsed across Dean's lap when her left knee gave out. It was funny, yet Dean had quietly got up afterwards and left to go back to his room.

"He wasn't really comfortable last night," the Samoan continued, "At least, I don't think he was. He enjoys his quiet time, y'know? Give him a week or two and he'll be out of his shell and singing along with you and cracking jokes at your expense, trust me."

It was an apt explanation and she was left feeling content that she hadn't done anything wrong.

Hunter was in the large hall they had used for catering that night, smiling when he saw the new woman. "Enjoying your first SmackDown?"

"Damn right, I am."

He laughed at her reaction and waved Roman off. "Good."

"How'd Ziggler pull up?" Bobbi questioned lightly. "His head hit the mat harder than I thought it would…"

"Nah, he's fine," Hunter reassured her, "He's the one of the best sellers we have, probably slammed his head down on the mat that hard on purpose to make it look real."

Bobbi smiled in comfort and then they were before the guerrilla, curtain hanging heavy and watching the events unfold on screen. Daniel Bryan was being beat up, pushed to breaking point by Randy Orton and the Shield.

When Big Show finally got the courage to stand, the technicians pulled the curtain back for the two entertainers.

The crowd booed so loudly Bobbi swore she might go deaf. In an instant, she'd pushed Hunter out of the curtains and pointed her finger at the ring when he turned to look at her in confusion, followed the now furious man down to the ring as he demanded for Show to get out. And when he did, Show was expelled from the arena, forced to leave. He glared at Bobbi as he walked past the smug woman with Hunter at his side, and just for good measure, she sent a little wave to him.

But as Orton ordered the Shield around for his beat down on Bryan, the smug look dropped from her face. They weren't his to control. She locked her jaw, already tired of the situation, and slipped into the ring. And she must've been crazy because she grabbed a fistful of Orton's arm and swung him around to face her.

"Either _you_ end this right now," she seethed, "Or I will."

The look he gave her was even, like he wasn't even perturbed by being interrupted. And when the boys hoisted him up onto Reigns' shoulder and dropped him in a triple power-bomb, Bobbi handed over the can of black spray point to Orton with a satisfied grin.

With a large, black 'NO' on the chest of Daniel Bryan, Bobbi took the spray paint back and slipped from the ring with her stable, holding her fist with theirs as they stared back towards the two superstars.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **September 2nd**

 **Des Moines, Iowa**

The rest of the week flew by in a series of short car rides. Slowly, she was getting used to the ways in which each of the men worked.

If allowed to rest the night, Seth awoke at the crack of dawn. He was a morning person, attending interviews and radio talk shows that were in the area. He also made a lot of food when he didn't eat out, which surprised Bobbi a lot because _damn_ that man could cook. Half of his suitcase was filled with trail bars and recipes for protein shakes and coffee packets. The other half was filled with his gear for crossfit. And, to Bobbi's disbelief, he was also a neat freak. She'd left her clothes in a pile on the floor one night and woke up to them neat and tidy and folded on the edge of her bed the next morning. When he wasn't drunk he kept to himself and remained quiet, but when he _was_ drunk, he had this need for cuddling and body warmth.

Roman was almost the opposite. He was a heavy sleeper and usually went through three or four alarms before finally rousing from his slumber. He was grumpy in the morning, but once a cup of Seth's coffee was in his stomach, he was fine. Like Seth, his extensive cooking skills impressed Bobbi. He had told her that most of it his wife had taught him in order to keep him healthy. And when he was drunk, he was loud and proud like an excited pup. The only little quirks that Bobbi had actually picked up was the way he would hold himself when he was extremely tired and how he would brood over a decision he didn't like.

While Dean was slowly letting her in, one of the only things she knew about him was that he loved to read during the car rides when he wasn't driving. He fluctuated in his sleep patterns and was neither a morning nor night person, and his drinking habits left him almost the same as when he was sober. But he was still hiding something from her.

And on Monday night, Bobbi was back in her same spot, her boys guarding the ring, Hunter in the ring introducing Randy Orton. She listened to his promo with feigned interest, instead deciding to retreat into her own thoughts.

Barrett hadn't once tried to approach her since her first week, and now entering her third she was somewhat surprised by his restraint. And in that same way, Bobbi hadn't seen Bray properly since last week - different schedules and conflicting travel times. A simple text message here and there had seen them keep in contact, but other than that, nothing. She was stuck with her Shield boys and honestly she didn't mind it, but she liked a break every now and then.

The start of Bryan's theme caught Bobbi's attention and she tuned back in to the happenings as the superstar stood alone on the stage.

Bobbi admired Daniel Bryan. She knew how hard he worked, knew how much he had sacrificed for the job. The ultimate underdog. And all of that was paying off now in this story-line that he'd created himself. The way he could conjure reactions from live audiences was absolutely insane, the way he kept getting back up after being knocked down inspiring something in all of them. His promo skills were fantastic and complemented his in ring wrestling skill, but none of that really mattered because he didn't have the right _look_. And she thought that it was a load of bullshit for the amount of time it took the company to realise he deserved more.

With the segment happening quickly, Bobbi was rushed into the back to set up her promo that would air live later on.

"Hey Paul," she said as she rounded the table he was sitting at. "How you going?"

"Pretty good, Bobbi." His smile was gentle as he sat back further into the seat. "This stuff they've got me doing is deep, tugging on my heart strings a bit."

She laughed at him. "Yeah, it is a bit. But hey, looking at the bright side, you're not actually that broke."

He agreed with her and shook his head in contemplation. "So tonight, then."

"Tonight."

"I'm thinking I'll throw some shit around, whack some things with other things."

Bobbi laughed at the man in front of her and then looked down at her buzzing phone. "Sounds like a plan. I'll just be the evil conniving bitch I am and piss you off some more."

She bent to kiss his cheek after he let out a belting chuckle, then made her way to find Stephanie who had asked for a quick meeting - something about a small change in the card. Finding the door after getting a little lost, Bobbi knocked and waited for a voice to give her the a-okay to enter.

When she did, Stephanie looked up at her with a smile. "Hey, Bobbi. We want to push you with a little more onscreen time as an experiment, see how the fans react. Ambrose was scratched from his match against Ziggler tonight, but we want you to distract Dolph when he's waiting for Ryback so Dean can get in a sneak attack, okay?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Bobbi replied, sending an enthusiastic smile. "Do I have creative reign?"

"Do whatever you want, okay?"

Bobbi smiled brighter this time. "Can I run the Shield's theme and then walk out from the left of stage? It'll throw a curveball, people will go crazy if they think the opponent is me."

With an ecstatic grin, Stephanie approved the plan.

And so as Dolph waited in the ring not ten minutes later, she gave the sound guys the signal to hit the music.

" _Sierra Hotel India Echo Lima Delta. The Shield._ "

Wildly, Dolph looked over his shoulder to try and find the descending Shield member, yet the screams of the fans brought his attention right back to the titantron - for Bobbi Arlett was walking out from the side of the stage, massaging her hands and looking ready for battle.

 _What?_ She could feel the confusion in the crowd and laughed inwardly at the way he had played right into her hands, so distracted he didn't even notice the bounce of the apron as Dean Ambrose launched a stealth attack.

When he tossed Dolph shoulder first through the turnbuckles and into the steel post, Dean made the time to point at her with a smirk. He rolled out of the ring, slapped his hand against Bobbi's outstretched one, and then continued to stalk the other superstar.

Ryback made his way to the ring as his music started, and Dean backed away from the hurt Ziggler to throw his arm around Bobbi's shoulder in triumph.

—

Bobbi stood in her spot behind the camera, shaking her limbs out silently as the Big Show absolutely _destroyed_ an area for the technical team. After he'd swept the contents off the long table, he turned to the table with food on it and threw his fist down, breaking it in half. He grabbed a long metal pole, brought it down against a sound box and hit it over and over again until his breathing was so ragged it looked like he'd officially lost control. With a nudge from a sound technician, Bobbi slid into place.

"Making a lot of noise there, Show," she called out softly. He turned, facing the table that he had swept clean seconds earlier, and stared at the silver and black haired woman who was sitting with one leg thrown over the over.

Air rushed out of his mouth as he puffed his cheeks out, face and chest flushed red with anger. He didn't say a word to her, just menacingly stared.

Bobbi smirked at him. "You look like you're about to cry, poor thing," she said, fake worry lacing her voice, "Are you having a bad day?"

He took a threatening step towards her and raised his fist. Yet Bobbi didn't flinch. In the distance she could hear the screams of the crowd, egging him on to hit her. She stayed still, head tilted a little to the left, lips curled up in a provoking grin. _Come on, hit me._ But he didn't. Slowly his fist lowered and he took one step back, then another, then stormed off down the hallway.

With the light switching off and the camera man signalling to her, Bobbi let out a deep breath. She looked sincerely at the camera technicians. "Was that alright?"

And before they had a chance to respond, a man against the wall behind them did; "It was fantastic."

Bobbi let out a squeal of joy when she recognised the voice and practically launched herself on top of the other native Illinois child - Phil Brooks.

"Whoooaaa," he laughed against her shoulder, "Easy there tiger."

As a close, long time family friend, Phil Brooks was easily one of Bobbi's favourite people in the world. They'd grown up with each other almost as siblings, their mothers best of friends. All that jazz. Usually they met somewhere in the middle at a beach house that her father was renovating at the time, but as soon as she'd moved to Tampa, she saw him too little for her own liking.

"I'm so happy to see you!" She whispered into his hair. "I can't believe I've been here three weeks and haven't seen you once."

"Luck of the draw, doll."

She pulled back from him and grinned excitedly. "What do you think? How good is my character?!"

Phil laughed at her and wrapped an arm across her shoulder, walking her back down towards the stage entrance. "Sassy, bitchy. Reckless. Cocky. Not even a character, it's just you."

" _Ouch,_ " she drew out, rolling her head onto his shoulder with a chuckle. "Bit harsh, isn't it?"

"Maybe." He shook her shoulder and looked down at her. "Plans for tonight? We need to catch up properly."

"Ahhhh," Bobbi sighed in frustration. "No can do. The boys and I are driving out to our next hotel straight after the show is off air and then I plan on sleeping. Lunch tomorrow, though?"

"You're on, Barb."

Sighing at the nickname, she slapped her hand against his stomach hard enough for him to flinch in pain. "Only Bobbi in this building, thank you very much."

He chuckled. "No one knows?"

"Except for you, Bray and that dead-weight British bitch, and, of course, the higher ups, no one _at all_ knows."

"Why?" Phil said as he threw his arm out. "It's a beautiful, classic name and you should be proud-"

"I will rip that tongue from your mouth, Punk."

He sent her a cheeky grin and gave her one last hug before pushing away. "Lunch, tomorrow!"

"Promise on my life I will be there!"

—

Bobbi stood almost one hour later staring at the monitor near the ramp, watched as the Big Show pulled back from delivering a KO to Daniel Bryan.

Triple H's music hit the speakers. Very quickly the superstars on the ramp made way for the Shield as they jogged down to the ring, livid Hunter in tow.

"Show," he commanded, "Get back in that ring and finish it."

But the big man shook his head 'no', defiantly stepped down onto the padded floor.

"Did you hear what I said?" Hunter growled. "Get _back in that ring_ and _finish it_."

And instead of obeying, Show turned his back and walked away. So in ran the Shield, laid siege to a felled Bryan in an attempt to coax him back into the ring.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Bobbi ripped her gaze from the TV monitor and turned, smiling at the suited-up Stephanie McMahon. "You ready?"

"Yeah," she answered.

The two ladies walked towards the curtain and hit the ramp when Stephanie's theme blared through the arena. She pranced out and Bobbi followed, lips twitching up in cockiness when the roster parted ways to let them through.

Stephanie threw her arms out, gave the Big Show a disappointed look as she made her way down.

"Think about your _family_ Show," Stephanie guilt-tripped him, "You have to think about your family; they're relying on you. They're relying on you and we're giving you one last chance, okay? Your last chance, come on."

Bobbi trailed the two as they proceeded to walk to the ring and climb into it. Once the giant man had vacated her corner, she launched herself up and over the ropes, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she straightened next to Stephanie.

But with his fist raised, Show stepped forward and turned to line his hand up with Triple H's head. The crowd screamed in anticipation just as Stephanie threw herself between the two, and when the big man didn't lower his fist, Bobbi shoved his arm away, hissing in threat. His eyes moved down to stare at her and it seemed like all the noise in the crowd just disappeared as the giant pondered what to do for the second time that night.

He turned his back. Hit the ropes in frustration. And then swung and caught the side of Daniel Bryan's face in a knock-out blow.

She walked with her boys back down to the side of the stage ramp after the intense standoff, jumped onto the grated walkway, stood there as the four of them blocked an exit the Big Show could take.

—

The room they were in for the night was _tiny_. The two double beds were too close for comfort, the only thing between them an old bedside bench with a rusty looking lamp. As Bobbi hauled her overnight bag into the room and up onto the bed, she sighed in distaste.

"They really know how to pick them, don't they?" She sarcastically moaned to Ambrose.

He let out a quiet chuckle and then flopped face-first onto the other bed. "Still a bed."

Finding his sleepy attitude endearing, Bobbi reached over and ruffled his hair softly. "Try and get a good sleep, yeah?"

"Yes, ma'am," he mumbled into the sheets.

Bobbi smiled gently. She would get used to the sleepy man very easily if he was always this cute. She quietly shuffled back to her bag and pulled out some clothes to get changed into - checkered red and black silk shorts and a soft grey t-shirt that was her go-to sleeping top. When she emerged from the bathroom with her legs free of tight pants and bra hanging over her shoulders, she felt refreshed and ready for bed.

Switching off the lights, she curled up under the covers and was almost asleep when Dean's croaky voice sounded out.

"Bobbi?"

"Yeah?" She turned over and glanced at the shape of his figure on the bed. The clock beside her read 3AM and her head was pounding for sleep, so when he didn't reply she fell back down onto the mattress.

"Bob…"

A loud sigh fell from her lips. "What's up?"

"I, uh. I can't sleep."

She inched back up onto her elbows and fixed him with a look, confused. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Give me body warmth."

"What?" Bobbi deadpanned.

"Ro and Seth usually just stay for five minutes and then go back, but. They're not here. And you are."

"Huh."

Bobbi let the room fall back into silence, but then groggily got up and shoved the other man so she could lay down. She sank into the spot he'd just vacated and relaxed into the warm sheets. And then Dean snuggled his back up against hers, seconds later snoring.

When Bobbi was awake next, the room was bright with sunshine and there was a steaming mug of hot coffee right in front of her nose. She breathed in deeply, snuggled back down into the pillow, threw her tattooed arm across her face. _Not enough sleep_. As usual, though, when she was on the road like this. She gazed back up at the digital clock and sighed again. It was only 9AM.

Finding the strength in her sore muscles to swing her legs around the edge of the beg, Bobbi wrapped her hands around the plain white mug and took a long sip. And _God_ , Seth's coffee making skills were like a gift from heaven.

She rubbed a palm against her make-up free face and shook her hair out of the low bun. Silver and black tendrils fell over her arms as goose bumps erupted along her skin.

 _Christ,_ did she hate the mornings after the live shows.

"Morning, Bob," Dean called out softly. Her head lifted and found him sitting back against the wall with a book open on his thigh. "Sleep well?"

"Sleep was fine, just need more of it," she mumbled back. Her throat was scratchy, voice heavy with sleep. "Did you?"

He gave a soft smile. "Yeah. Thanks for that, by the way."

Bobbi's lips twitched up and then she took another sip of the coffee. Standing, she stretched her arms up above her head and tensed her muscles, then shook them out to get rid of the sleep.

Dean was watching her. She could almost feel his eyes drag down the curve of her breasts and the flat expanse of her torso, the curve of her ass and the length of her legs.

However, she was surprised when he spoke out. "What's the thing on your leg?"

The navy blue water-coloured tattoo wrapped around the top of her left thigh. It was something she'd had for almost five years, yet close to no one had seen it because the only time she wore shorts was when it was boiling hot outside or when she pulled on her checkered pants for sleep.

"It's a map of the world," she murmured as she pulled up the material of the red bottoms. "There was a stencil of it in the tattoo parlour when I got my arm done. Three years later when I dropped back in and it was still there, I got it."

A nod of understanding was sent to her. "Was always too anxious of those jabby little things and sitting still for that long, dunno how you people do it."

She laughed at him and grabbed her duffle before tossing it into the bathroom. "I'm gonna freshen myself up and then go grab some breakfast from the buffet downstairs. You down?"

He nodded his reply.

The breakfast with the three guys was entertaining, Bobbi praising Seth for his coffee and then having the shit taken out of her by Dean for snoring. Reigns nudged her at one stage, raising his eyebrows. He was reminding her that he was right, that the more comfortable Dean was, the quicker he came out of this shell.

Barrett made an appearance. Glared at her from his table. _Like a child_.

The rest of Bobbi's day was spent with Phil. The two caught up over cold milkshakes and burritos, reminiscing about past years and getting each other back up to speed with their life.

A good day. A good week. Bobbi could get very used to this routine - she was extremely lucky that Vince McMahon had found he when he did.


	3. Chapter 3

**hello, my beautiful wonderful readers :)  
i might revert back to one update per week as my other fic is (go check it out, it's a seth rollins/oc), but that just depends on the response :)  
if you guys haven't already, GO CHECK OUT MY POLYVORE PROFILE! i try to describe clothes but it's a look that you need to see in person (literally raaeebrucee dot polyvore dot com)**

 **anyhow, drop a comment if you enjoy this, and thanks to my single commenter last week, you're the bomb digity.**

* * *

 **SmackDown taping**

 **September 3rd**

 **Minneapolis, Minnesota**

As the show went on air, Bobbi separated herself from the three Shield members blocking the ring and climbed through the ropes. She walked around Vicki Guerrero, lifted her nose up with a snort and then perched herself on top of her turnbuckle, crossed legs resting on one rope, hand to stabilise her resting on the other.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the COO of WWE, Triple H!"

He smiled. "Welcome to SmackDown. Before we get started, I'd just like to take a moment to inform everybody that regretfully as of this past monday night, Cody Rhodes is no longer a WWE superstar. I'd like to explain to you why, as Cody was fired for just cause; Cody Rhodes was insubordinate and disrespectful to the position of COO of the WWE, who represents the WWE - so in essence, as COO, I _am_ the WWE."

Bobbi rolled her head to the side, stretching out a kink in her neck. She smirked as she watched Roman sway his weight gently from one foot to the other.

The open forum Hunter was calling was kicked off by a hilarious suck-up speech from Damien Sandow. Then a hesitant Kofi Kingston. Then Heath Slater. Then RVD. Bobbi watched with feigned interest as Ryback stepped up.

She'd come to realise that of all the live shows she'd attended, she'd been in the opening segment for each and had sat in her position at the top of the ring for each. And tonight nothing had changed. Then, she was set to shadow Dean to the Dolph Ziggler match and take a hit at the end of the Daniel Bryan match.

So thirty minutes later, Bobbi and Dean slipped through the scores of people as they made their way to the commentator table. He had the title wrapped securely around his waist, hand against her back as they stepped through the time keepers booth.

The United States Champion let her go, walked right up to Michael Cole.

"What the…?" Cole murmured, standing up as Dean chucked a headset on.

"Where you going Michael?" He asked, drawling out his words. He grabbed the chair and spun in around to face the commentator. "Relaaaax, sit back down, get comfortable, you got a job to do."

"You're the voice of the WWE," he continued, "And you always do a great job. I can see that you're a little bit nervous, kiddo, but you've never been _safer_ than you are right now."

Behind Cole, Bobbi flipped open a chair, threw her chunky heels up on the table and gave him another little surprise. She grinned sweetly and waved at him as he hesitantly sat back down, and Dean settled back on the barricade between the two announcers as things went back to normal.

"Can I ask you whatever I want?"

"Fire away, Michael."

He hesitated, eyeing Bobbi and then turning to look at Dean. "Um, well, it's int- it's interesting that- that you two are out here, Dean, because before you walked out here we were speculating _why_ you ambushed Dolph Ziggler on Monday night, before his match."

Dean smirked at Bobbi. "You know why I like you, Michael? Because you've always been a great employee and you have a great attitude. But the real question is why does Dolph Ziggler have such a _poor_ attitude, why does Dolph Ziggler continually disrespect the _business_ and the company that made him a star? Michael, he's been acting like an entitled little punk, so I taught him a lesson!"

"So did Triple H tell you to come out here and punish Dolph Ziggler Monday night?"

Bobbi hissed in sympathy as Dolph delivered a hard DDT to Ryback.

"Ohhh, nasty," Dean said aloud, then turned his attention back to Michael. "The Shield will always be there to serve justice and to establish order; without order we have nothing. When a _duck_ like Dolph Ziggler gets out of line, there will be consequences."

Michael turned to face Bobbi and she lifted a manicured eyebrow at him in distaste. "Are you guys - the Shield, that is - are you guys working for Triple H?"

"You're asking me, Michael, not Bobbi. She doesn't want to speak to you." Bobbi smiled bitterly and turned back to the action as Ambrose kept the attention on himself. "The Shield works for the Shield, the Shield works for the good of the business, Michael, the Shield _always_ _does_ what's best for business."

The focus then resumed back onto the match.

"Come on big guy, you can take out this little punk!" Dean paused. "He is quick though."

Bobbi chuckled at the offhand comment, picked her legs off the table and stood to her full height.

Michael sent her a look, momentarily distracted, but then kept on. "No- Noticed that you and the Shield were standing guard at ringside tonight during the town hall meeting led by Triple H to kick off the show…"

"It's like I told ya, the ducks gotta stay in line."

As Dolph toppled from the ring, the Shield member was quick to start belittling him, "he can't even stand up! Whatta ya doing out here, go do your job!"

Ryback jumped out, attempted to tackle Dolph against the steel steps, but hit them alone as the show off quickly moved out of the way. He glared at the man between the commentators then.

"What are you looking at me for?" Ambrose rhetorically asked. "Oh you think you're gonna do something? You think-" He threw his headset quickly down on the bench and Bobbi sidestepped out of the way as he dashed for more room, Dolph sprinting after him and around the table, and right into a body-breaking clothesline.

Ryback pulled Dolph into the ring and made quick work of him.

Ambrose sat himself down on the steel steps, legs wide and hand poised under his chin pensively in a dominant position as he watched, and Bobbi moved to sit next to him, crossing her legs and looking at her nails in disinterest.

As Ryback got the win, the two Shield members slowly walked away - one with a pointed smirk and the other shaking his head in disappointment as he crossed his arms and followed Bobbi over the barricade.

Bobbi was back on screen soon enough. It was her idea, at first, to be a thorn in Show's side when he was angry, to test his limits. Paul agreed with her and together they'd gone to Stephanie and she'd given her nod of approval right away.

So as Big Show walked out like the storm after the calm, Bobbi was leant back against the time keepers Barricade. He forced his way through the ropes and bounced off the ones closest to her, sending 3MB scurrying from the ring as he glared absolute _daggers_ at the Shield member.

Slater hesitantly started the match, but soon enough Show had pulled McIntyre over the ropes and pushed him into Jinder Mahal. The two fell heavily and the big guy was right over the ropes after them, but instead of stopping, he walked straight over to Bobbi and stared her down.

And then the entire audience hushed to little more than a whisper as they stared on.

The moment was powerful and intense; Bobbi's smirk and the way her eyes flashed in a dare of _come on_ , Show's steely gaze and lack of movement the demonstration of his control.

And then he spun on his heel and plunged his fist down across McIntyre's back, once, twice, three times before swinging him around to bounce head first off the pole. He turned, hand gripping Mahal's throat and throwing him against the ropes, then bouncing his head off of the announce table, turning him over and slapping his chest with his massive paws. Show once more glared up at Bobbi, ran towards her as McIntyre came back around the corner, and then speared him.

The Big Show was showing _so_ much dominance it would have been therapeutic had Bobbi not been there egging him on with the shit-eating grin that was on her face.

He made his statement though, double choke-slamming Mahal and McIntyre onto the apron of the ring and then grabbing fistful of Heath Slater's bright orange hair to deliver thunderous knock out punch.

But as he was leaving, after he'd bared his teeth at Bobbi, the only thing that came over the speakers was, " _Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta; the Shield_."

He glared across at Bobbi and then stared up at where the rest of the three Shield members were walking down the steps, completely ready to blow another gasket when Triple H came out and laid a hand on his shoulder. Together, they retreated to the back.

When the boys were over the barricade, Bobbi walked across to join them. They moved to stand in the middle of the ring and she let them do their dominant manly thing while she leant back against the commentary table. And then when Daniel Bryan came out and stood in the ring, Ambrose and Reigns rolled out to join her.

When a guy in the crowd yelled out "the Shield is AWESOME" Bobbi actually had to bite back her laugh.

Together, she and the boys stalked around the squared circle, terrorising Daniel Bryan every time he fell out of the ring. With a heavy kick from Seth catching Bryan in the back of the head, he toppled to the ground - only to be hit with a superman punch from Reigns as Rollins distracted the referee. And quickly Seth Rollins took control of the match. And then promptly lost it.

Bryan locked in his 'Yes' hold, and Bobbi slammed her hands down on the mat as she screamed for Seth to try and reach the ropes. Reigns jumped up onto the apron directly in front of Bobbi and was instantly met with a dropkick that had him land a flailing heap on top of her, bouncing her head off the padded barricade.

She saw stars for a minute but when she was back to, Bryan had pinned Seth and won the match.

Pulled to her feet by a ruffled Ambrose, Bobbi climbed into the ring clutching the back of her head. A glance at Seth saw that he was in the same boat. The four of them stood in the centre absolutely fuming as the scruffy man ran away with the victory.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **September 9th**

 **Toronto, Ontario**

This time, Bobbi didn't start the show on the top turnbuckle. Instead she started out like a true fangirl and screamed as The Rated R Superstar danced his way onto the screen.

Stephanie was laughing whole-heartedly at the reaction, nose and eyes crinkling with happiness. "I never new there was this side to you, Bobbi," she said with a breath, "You're great, honestly.

Both of them watched the scenes unfold on television and Bobbi was so entranced that it was over just as quick as it started.

"You ready for this? You won't freak out?"

Bobbi gave Stephanie the largest, cheesiest grin she could and crossed her heart with her finger. "Not until the cameras've stopped rolling; I am a _true_ professional."

Hunter and her boys push into the office then, grinning at the excited woman as they set up for the promo.

And then Adam fucking Copeland flew through the door with his sights set on Hunter until the boys ran into action. She stood next to Stephanie as the heated discussion took place, and though her face was stone, behind her back her hands were pressed tightly into fists. She stared up at Edge, eyes a mixture of wonder and happiness and was glad that the cameras were so far away that they couldn't focus on it.

And then the lights flickered and it the cameras had stopped rolling. The boys all introduced themselves to the smiley Canadian, and Bobbi stood back with a hand over her mouth in anticipation.

"Adam," Stephanie called, "I want you to meet Bobbi Arlett."

His eyes fixed on hers and she almost collapsed right there in a huge mess of a skin and bones, but maintained her composure enough to stretch out a shaking hand.

"Hey Bobbi!"

"Hi…" she squeaked back, and then Stephanie was in another fit of laughter.

"I've seen your work, both on NXT and the short time you've been here," he said with a smile. "And I absolutely _love_ it."

Bobbi squeaked and her eyes widened. Her heart was pumping and she was getting the sweats and everyone was trying to hold themselves together long enough for Bobbi to meet her childhood hero. "You- you've watched me?"

"Of course I have!"

"I think I'm going to faint," she murmured, hands resting on her neck.

Laughter sounded around the room. Seth, her saviour, her blessing in disguise, ducked forward to slip an arm around her shoulder. "She's a big fan, but don't worry, once she get's over this she's all sass and sarcasm."

—

The lights flashed once and then the big man was walking slowly towards them. His eyes raised and a dark look crossed his face as she and Stephanie were panned into the picture.

"Hi, Big Show," Stephanie said, voice sickly sweet.

"Stephanie," he greeted back. He looked over the woman's shoulder and forced the scowl from his face as he said "Bobbi."

"Listen, in tonights main event, you're in Daniel Bryan's corner and the Shield," she motioned back over her shoulder at Bobbi, "is in Dean Ambrose's corner. But here's the thing. I can't have you lay a finger on the Shield tonight, not at all."

He glanced down then, completely ignoring Bobbi's presence and fixing Stephanie with a blank stare.

"I've got a special seat for you ringside. Emotions are _high_ and I can't have mass chaos in the event tonight! And Show if you do, if you _touch_ the Shield… you'll be terminated."

He huffed, shook his head, and down by his side Bobbi could see his hand closing into a fist.

"It's what's best for business."

Stephanie walked off then as Show's breathing became heavier. He seemed to forget she was there, gently put his fists on top of the TV and leant his head down on top of it. And then he hauled it up in the air at the same time he caught Bobbi's amused eyes, glared at her as he brought it down onto the floor and kicked it.

He stared at her as his face contorted in anger and frustration, laboured in his breathing.

"I'll see you out there," Bobbi said softly, smirking as she turned and walked down the hallway.

And then she ran, bolting to the elevator in time to catch it for the ride up to the second level. Reigns chuckled as he laid a heavy hand down across her shoulders, and by the time she had her breath back, their theme was on.

After walking down the stairs, dodging and weaving between hands and steel handle bars, Bobbi stood in the ring with the rest of the stable, smiling when the Big Show's music started. She stood next to Ambrose and laughed when Reigns pointed over their shoulders, murmuring, "This guy's not gonna do a thing."

Bobbi could see that he was holding back on his anger and smirked. And then Daniel Bryan hit the stage.

She jumped from the ring and stood next to Seth, and with the four inch boots Stephanie had her in, she was pretty much the same height as him. But instead of staying put, she locked eyes with the big man and slowly walked towards him with her arms out.

"Can't do a thing, Show," she mocked. "Not a thing."

He leant back more in the chair and closed his eyes before opening them to blankly stare at the ring in front of him.

" _And Bobbi Arlett is trying to provoke the Big Show here, trying to get him to snap,_ " Michael called, " _We all know the stipulation tonight - if the Big Show so much as_ touches _a Shield member, he's terminated._ "

JBL agreed with him. " _What I find interesting though is the part she's played in this whole thing, Cole. She's mocked him and pushed him and has very much had an impact in the way this has all played out._ "

The match wasn't even in motion for five minutes before Ambrose slipped from the ring, gathered them over. "All around," his only words.

And so while Rollins went to the left and Reigns went to the right, Bobbi leaned back against the apron with her arms crossed and stared at the Big Show. And slowly things went back to normal.

Somewhere along the way, instead of staying put, Show started to cheer Bryan on loud and proud.

They went at it hard and they went at it until the WWE Universe was chanting 'this is awesome', and when Rollins tried a distraction for Roman to spear Daniel, the target sidestepped and Roman drove shoulder first right into the steel stairs.

Bobbi was open mouthed and about to move when Bryan side-stepped another Shield attack, sending Rollins face first off of the commentary table.

But he wasn't going to dodge the DDT from Ambrose. She moved back, hands up as she bent to check up on Rollins and then Reigns.

Yet that wasn't it. Bryan rolled Ambrose up for the three count and then sent him over the ropes, landing on the rest of the boys as Bobbi quickly rolled out of the way. _Not today, not today_.

She stayed down on her haunches and flicked her hair out of her face until Randy ran out, then pounced on the boys and shoved them off the ground, yelling "Get up! Get up and fight!"

Ambrose pushed her back into the apron, pointed at the Big Show and screamed "Watch him!", and that was what she did until he was up and bearing down on her.

"Don't you even-"

Her words were cut off as she was literally shoved aside, and with a sickening crack her head bounced of the steel post. Before she even hit the ground she could feel the blood running from her hairline, dripping down over her eye. She flicked her head back and looked up and instantly felt woozy, but the fans that were watching her were hushed at the sight of the wound.

Hands were on her back as a trainer ducked into view, but Bobbi pushed him off and stood, falling back against the ring her head had split open on for support.

"Give me a towel!" Bobbi shouted at them. "Give me a stupid towel, I'm fine!"

The ring-side workers looked at her in concern, shook their heads no, so Bobbi pushed around them and leant over the barricade, hands snatching the white material off the ground. She wiped one across her face and vest, getting rid of the blood she could see.

"Is it gone?" She asked one of the trainers. They didn't answer and Bobbi took a threatening step forward, lowered her voice so only they could hear her. "Is it fucking gone?"

Slowly they nodded. With another towel pressed against her head to stop the blood and now absolutely _furious,_ Bobbi caught the eyes of Seth. He hit Ambrose in the chest and then all three of them rushed around to check on her.

"That's not part of the plan," Roman muttered as he wiped his thumb against a drop of blood on her arm.

"You okay?" Ambrose's eyes were laced with worry as he ducked to catch her gaze.

She only growled. "I'm gonna have a fit if I can't do SmackDown tomorrow, _fuck_."

A loud crash sounded from the mat as Randy drove Bryan into the mat with his RKO.

Seth squeezed the top of her tattooed arm and shook his head. "If it's just a split then it should be fine, okay? You'll be fine."

"You guys need to go back to being menacing," she quipped.

As the three boys shook their heads, the Game's voice erupted over the speakers. "Big Show, it's time to be a professional. To put aside feelings of what's right and what's wrong. I don't give a _crap_ about your moral conundrum. I want you to walk back to that ring, I want you to pick Daniel Bryan up, and I want you to _knock him out._ "

"No, we're out," Dean said as he slung his arm across her shoulders. "Let's go."

Seth grabbed another towel as they walked through the time-keepers box and wiped off the rest of her arm. Reigns was pushing his way through the crowd, Dean a hand around her waist guiding her.

When they reached the back and were out of sight, Bobbi was swept up into Ambrose's strong arms and rushed through to the medical room, cameras going off as they captured the scenes.

"It's just a little scratch," she breathed in defeat, "dunno what you guys are going on about."

Truth was, Bobbi's head was pounding with the rhythm of her heartbeat and her body felt as if she were at the bottom of the ocean. Ringing vibrated through her ears as a wave of dizziness crashed over her.

Ambrose pushed her down onto the table, then ran his hands through his messy hair.

"We'll do a concussion test real quick before we give you some morphine," one of the medicals said as he moved to sit in front of her. "Okay, follow my finger with your eyes."

She followed it to the left as a bright light was flashed in her right eye, and followed it to the right as the same light was flashed in her left eye.

"How's your hearing?"

"Usual."

"Okay…" he shifted closer to her and held his arm out. "Push against my arm as hard as you can."

She did as she was told and then demonstrated her balance and coordination by walking in a straight line that was taped to the floor. Next was her reflexes, then her memory and concentration.

"Alright," the doctor smiled happily. "No concussion, but because you took a hit to the front of your head, it wouldn't surprise me if you feel lethargic and dizzy and have the headache from hell, but that just comes with the territory of taking a knock to the head."

Sighing in relief, Bobbi leaned into the hand that was on her back. "Thank God."

He stood up, gathered a couple of things and threw on some black gloves. "You can lie down if you want, get comfortable."

Bobbi nodded and gently shifted down onto her back, and she looked up at a worried Dean before the doc asked her to roll her head to the side.

"C'mere," she whispered. Dean looked back up at her and smiled, grabbed a chair to sit next to her hand so she could rest her elbow against his shoulder and run her fingers through his wet hair. It wasn't so much a technique to calm him as it was a technique to calm herself.

There was a pinch in her arm and she hissed as she looked down, watching the needle come away from her skin. She glared up at the perpetrator and then relaxed as he informed her that it was just some pain killers.

As the on site doctor stitched up the laceration, Bobbi's head started to feel a lot more woozy, lights swimming in her eyes if she moved them too quickly. A wave of warmth flooded through her entire body and suddenly she was weightless and painless. The feeling was surreal, it was like she was on cloud nine and nothing could touch her.

"My arm's itchy," she breathed out. "Deany can you scratch it for me please?"

He did as he was told, scratching softly just in the right area. She moaned aloud, breathed "right there."

Laughter filled the room and when she shifted her eyes half open, she took note of the people standing around her. Seth and Roman were staring down at her looking highly amused, Stephanie was in the corner with her hand in Hunter's. _When did they get in here_?

"All done," the doc announced as he pulled back from her face. "Seven dissolvable stitches that hopefully wont leave any scaring."

"Thanks, Fred," Stephanie murmured as she walked forwards. "When will the pain killers wear off?"

He hummed. "Around four hours. I'll give her some codeine-"

"No," Bobbi breathed out, "no codeine, no more morphine, aspirin will be fine."

The faces in the room frowned at her, curious about her rejection, but let it slide. Instead the doc took a different direction. "You need to go have a litre of water and sleep it off, Miss Arlett. Like I said, you'll probably have a killer headache when you wake up, but that should be around it."

Dean slithered a hand under her back and lifted her up slowly as Hunter and Stephanie bid them goodnight, and when he came around to face her she held her arms out expectantly.

"You want a hug?"

Bobbi shook her head no, then frowned. "Well, no, I want a piggyback."

Roman cackled loudly as Dean's face morphed into one of distress, but he obliged the woman in front of him and knelt down to lift her onto his back. In seconds, she was out like a light and breathing heavy against his shoulder.

—

"Bobbi…"

A hand gently caressed her shoulder, shook her out of her sleep. Groaning, Bobbi ran a hand over her face and suddenly hissed in pain. "Ah, _fuck_."

She opened her eyes and groggily looked up at the man hovering over her. "What the fuck?"

"You remember last night?"

Suddenly the events came flooding back to her, the blood and the pain and the pounding resurfacing in her memories. " _Shit…_ " she ground out. "I remember the stitches going in and then just… nothing."

"Doc topped you up with some morphine to ease the pain," Dean informed her as he moved away. "You were extremely out of it, probably a good thing you don't remember."

She glanced at her phone and groaned aloud. Seven missed calls, two from Phil, one from Bray, and other four from her mom, a bunch of text messages from friends and family members - she didn't know where to start. In the end, a generalised text was sent out, though her mothers more personalised.

When she looked down, she realised she was still in her gear from the night before, though her vest was gone and her shoes were off.

"What time do we need to be at the arena?" Bobbi called out.

Dean ducked out from around the corner and sent her a smile. "Not until 2PM, so sit back and enjoy some relaxation."

Five hours to kill, and the thought of relaxation went out the door when Seth and Roman barged in baring coffee and breakfast. In horror, Bobbi watched the videos that Roman had recorded of her on his phone - her dancing and singing skills in the backseat of the rental and then her face when she realised she'd put the hotel TV remote in a glass of water.

Morphine. _Never. Again._

—

 **SmackDown taping**

 **September 10th**

 **Ottawa, Ontario**

And so the show kicked off with the big man in the centre of the ring.

"I apologise for my appalling behaviour on Monday night Raw," he read off a piece of paper. "I apologise to Triple H for not doing the simple job I was asked to do on Monday night. I apologise to the other superstars for setting a poor example as a locker room leader. I apologise profusely to Shield member Bobbi Arlett for hurting her on Monday night. But most of all, I apologise to the WWE Universe for letting you down."

" _And John, note that Big Show is_ apologising _to Bobbi Arlett! The same woman who for the last three weeks has_ provoked _him and got inside his head._ "

" _She was just keepin' an eye on him, nothing wrong with that!"_

 _"But it is true that on Monday night, Stephanie told him that if he touched any member of the Shield she would terminate him. Yet on a statement released this morning, Stephanie wrote that she saw it as a one off accident and that if it happened again-"_

 _"Poor Bobbi was literally_ shoved _into that pole!"_

 _"But John, the footage clearly shows he had no intention to harm her, he just flew up from his spot and moved so quick the clip on her arm sent her reeling."_

Hunter was on the stage, commenting on how the Big Show had apologised, played with his emotions. "Show, look at me. I'm not going to fire you. I'm going to suspend you for the night without pay."

He was coaxed out of the ring, face drawn and tired until the start of the Shield's music boomed through the arena. And then his face was tight, eyes hardened as he glared up at the spot they were making their way down from.

Bobbi was at the front. She shoved hands away from her, eyes lit with fire, until the audience realised that she didn't want to be slapped on the back or patted.

She launched herself over the top of the barricade and immediately climbed into the ring, but arms slinked around her waist and then she was pulled back - even though she was screaming and yelling and flailing against the man, Ambrose didn't want her doing anything stupid. He turned, pushed her back against the ropes.

" _Wait_ , Arlett!" He yelled loud enough for the cameras to pick up.

She seethed at him and then dropped and rolled out, slamming her palms into the apron over and over again to let out her frustration.

Seth and Roman were quick to get in then, and as a team, the boys went after Big Show. He fought back just as hard and Bobbi stayed well out of the way, crouching against the barricades as they all toppled out of the ring.

He was gaining control as he speared Roman off the announce table and Bobbi rolled out of the way just in time as he flew back against the spot she'd been in. And that was it, that was the last straw. Bobbi was _done_.

She waited until he threw Roman back into the ring, positioning herself at the bottom of the apron, climbing up onto the top rope as he lifted the Samoan ready to deliver a choke slam, and then launched herself off the turnbuckle. Twisting mid-air, Bobbi lengthened her legs out until her feet connected with the back of Show's left knee.

In a swoosh of silver and black hair Bobbi was back outside on the mat. She smiled wide as the big man glared at her from his knees. In retaliation, his fist flew out against Ambrose's stomach and he stood up, raising his hand into a fist for a knock out blow to the stumbling Rollins.

And just as Seth turned around, Bobbi nailed the big man in the back with a steel chair. Another one had him on his knees, and she kept going until he was on his stomach. And then she tossed the chair to Reigns who took over, snatched a microphone from the technician.

"Big Show, you bounced my skull of a steel post, so now we're going to put you down."

Ambrose and Rollins lifted him off the floor, struggled to get him onto Roman's shoulders, but soon enough the 450 pound man was sent crashing back to the mat with a thunderous ending.

She threw the microphone down at his chest harshly, then bent down. "You wanna put stitches in my head?" Bobbi screamed. "You wanna put _my head_ through a _steel post_? You think that's your way of keeping me down? You're gonna have to try _much_ harder than that! You are _nothing!_ "

Standing up, Bobbi threw her fist into the middle above his body, and slowly but surely the boys joined her.

—

The stable walked down past the waiting camera crew, vibes of not wanting to stop coming off them like crazy.

"Bobbi! Excuse me Bobbi!"

She paused, looked over her shoulder. "I'm not talking with that stupid camera in my face."

"Bobbi, just a few questions-"

"A few questions? Did you _miss_ what just happened out there, Saxton?" She shook her head. "I'm not in the _mood_ for talking."

"How's your head holding up?" Byron continued, pushing her. Bobbi glared at him and then a hand was on her back as Roman Reigns loomed up behind her.

"'How's your head holding up?'" She mimicked back at him, "Did you _see_ what Big Show did to me Monday night? I have seven freaking stitches in my head - go on, count them - and a concussion, how do you _think_ I'm holding up? But if Show thinks for one second that it's going to keep me down, he's got another thing _way_ more than a triple power-bomb coming."

She glanced at the camera, shoved it away from her face. "Now get that stupid thing out of my face."

When it focused back onto it's original spot, Bobbi and Roman were already halfway down the corridor and Byron was wide eyed.

 _Don't mess with the Shield._


	4. Chapter 4

**RAW Live**

 **September 9**

 **Cleveland, Ohio**

It was the show after Night of Champions. All three of her boys had retained their championships and she was ringside at each match, shoving the referees out of the way to hold their hands high in the air in flawless victories.

Bobbi didn't start the show on the ropes tonight, though that's eventually where she would end up. Instead, Daniel Bryan came out with his newly won championship to the sound of the audience going absolutely mental, yelling with all their might and lifting the man up into an area higher than cloud nine.

As he spoke, she smiled at his infectious happiness. She was watching him on the screen near the curtain and waiting for her cue, so she didn't have to try and hide her smile.

But as Triple H walked out onto the stage, Bobbi had to compose herself. She had a referee to escort down to the ring in three minutes and she had to push all the emotion from her body.

That was the thing with wrestling in a different persona - it took valuable time to get into the mood, to get to the place that she had to be to act the way she did without even thinking about it. Bobbi new that the Bobbi the world saw was part of her, was a part of her soul, and she didn't deny it when it threatened to come out, but she also realised that she couldn't be that person all the time. It was exhausting and something she had to learn the hard way.

So she stayed there, crouching down against the crates near the TV, closed her eyes and took deep breaths. The emotions needed to leave her body, the performance anxiety had to leave, the nerves. She threw herself back in time, remembering all that had happened eight years ago, remembered the anger and the pain and the personal victories. She remembered everything.

When Bobbi looked up, her eyes were burning with intensity. With a nod from one of the technicians, she grabbed Scott Armstrong's arm and escorted him down to the ring. Her grip was so tight on his arm that the cameras could easily pick up the nails digging in and the white skin surrounding it. They entered the ring and Bobbi pushed the referee into his position. Over his shoulder, she sent a mocking smile at Daniel Bryan.

"Thanks, Scott, for coming out here," Hunter started. "I would like to get to the bottom of what happened last night, but first I would like to take a look at some footage. We're gonna take a look at some footage from the end of last nights championship match but _before_ we do, I would like to show some footage that shows, Scott, your _normal_ cadence in a WWE championship match, your _normal_ count. If we could, please."

Bobbi slung an arm over his shoulder and turned him around to face the titantron. What greeted them was the video of Scott performing a count on one of Daniel Bryan's covers earlier in the night. The footage showed the count, one, two, Triple H pointing out as much. When the footage finished, Bobbi forcefully swung him back around to face The Game.

"That's your normal cadence for a count, is it not?"

Scott nodded slowly.

Triple H nodded back. "I would now like to take a look at the footage from the _finish_ of last nights WWE championship match, the final call, if you will. If we could roll that please."

The titantron showed the obviously fast count.

"Scott," Hunter slowly began, "that was an incredibly fast count. How do you explain this?"

The man in question shrugged, looked uncomfortable. "It was a fast count, I don't know."

Bobbi stepped forward once more, threw her arm across his shoulder threateningly. She mocked him, "You don't know?", and smiled in triumph as his eyes dropped in submission.

Hunter repeated the referees words into his microphone. "That's your reason? 'I don't know'?"

"I made a mistake," he murmured, still keeping his eyes on the floor.

But Hunter shook his head. "See, Scott, you are a senior official of the WWE, right? That kind of fast count does not _just happen_ , how do you explain what happened?"

Yet the referee didn't change his answer. "I made a mistake."

Hunter repeated him again. "Scott, I've known you for fifteen years, right? I've _never_ seen you make a mistake like that. I have _never_ seen you make that kind of mistake and if you've ever done anything, you've always 'fessed up to it. And I have the feeling you're not telling me everything, Scott, what are you- what are you hiding? Tell me the truth, come on! Get it out!"

When the man did nothing, Bobbi dug her nails into the soft flesh of his trapezius, then leaned forward to whisper into his ear, "just the truth," and Scott looked down again, then across at the new champion.

"They're onto us, Daniel," he said lowly, but Bobbi smiled and dropped her head in distaste.

"They're onto us," she repeated loud enough for Hunter to hear.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, did you just say they're onto us, Daniel? What is _us_?" Triple H slowly nodded his head, ran a hand down his mouth, turned away. And then turned back. "This changes everything. Scott, I'll deal with you later. Bobbi, please escort Scott to the back right now please, thank you very much for your time."

Daniel Bryan was losing his mind, shaking his head, mad beyond words but screaming that he didn't know about anything.

Slipping her shoulder underneath the third rope and sitting on the second, Bobbi let the blank eyed referee drop to the floor before moving to throw an arm around his shoulder, smirk heavy on her face as she walked him back up the ramp.

—

"Hey!" Randy yelled aggressively. "Hunter! Hunter, what the hell is going on! What the _hell_ just happened out there?!

The Game turned around, stood nose to nose with the unimpressed superstar. "What do you mean what happened?"

"What happened?! Where's my title? Give it back to me, it's mine!"

With a scurry of hands and bodies, Stephanie pushed between her husband and Randy Orton, face red with anger. " ** _Hey!_** Who the _hell_ do you think you're talking to?! That's the COO of the WWE, and as far as we're concerned, you _deserved_ to lose last night!"

He paused, looked down at the woman in front of him with surprise.

"What happened to the Randy Orton of old?" Stephanie asked, "What happened to the Randy Orton with no morality, no remorse, what happened to the sick _bastard_ who handcuffed my husband and gave _me_ a DDT?" She shook her head, stepped past him. "Until you find _that_ Randy Orton again, maybe we'll have to find a _new_ face of the WWE."

Hunter stepped back up next to him. " _That's_ the guy we're looking for."

Thrown a complete curve ball of harsh truth, Randy stared after the couple with anger in his eyes, his shoulders rising and falling with every breath that ran through his body.

Bobbi jumped off the crate behind the man, startling him as he spun around with a flash of teeth ready to pounce.

"Whoa," she murmured, "Calm down, tough guy."

He seethed, breathed heavily through his teeth, and then slowly recollected himself. He shouldn't have.

"You know, Stephanie has a point. You've changed from this sadistic and twisted predator who took no survivors into a hyena, Randy, you've become complacent with sloppy seconds," Bobbi commented. She hooked her thumbs into her vest straps and let her arms fall against the black material as she watched Randy's face shift back into anger.

"Don't call me a hyena."

"But it's true," Bobbi sung, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Because now you're a slimy, mangy coward who can't even beat - what did Hunter call him? A B+ at best? Randy, something's gotta change, something's gotta click inside your head so you can realise that you're not as good as you think you are."

Randy took a threatening step forward. His eyes were blazing and his lips were pulled back in a snarl. "You shut your mouth!"

"Or what? You'll hit me?" She laughed at him and turned to walk away, threw a glance over her shoulder. "When you grow the balls to become the top man, let me know."

As the cameras fade into the distance, Bobbi broke into a sprint to get to the ring for Dean's match against Dolph Ziggler.

She walked by herself around the crowd, a couple of people whispering as they noticed she was out in the audience alone. When she reached the time-keepers area, she ducked into hiding, watching the match from a crouched position where the cameras couldn't pick her up.

The United States Champion dominated the beginning of the fight, wrestling with precision and intensity. Yet soon enough Dolph Ziggler found a wind of momentum. A DDT, a drop kick to the face, a running clothesline, ten elbow drops, and then right into a body slam from Dean Ambrose.

The only way Dolph would win this was by instinct to get in his finisher - and that's exactly what he did, hitting the finisher and pulling Dean's leg up into a cover.

He scurried to the ropes pulling himself up, and Bobbi made her move then, running towards the turnbuckle closest to her and climbing up to the top, perching herself there until he turned around from the screams of the crowd.

Launching herself off the top and slamming the side of her knee against the show off's head, Bobbi skidded to a stop on the mat in front of Ambrose, turned around to make sure her victim wasn't moving and was met with the satisfactory sight of him lying in a heap on the floor. She slithered over to him and threw a leg over his back in a position of dominance, grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the mat for good measure.

She turned back to Dean, gently slapped the side of his face. "C'mon, up you get."

With a look of disorientation, Dean followed her out of the ring and to the side of the ramp, walking around the back of the stage to disappear into the darkness of the back-room.

—

When she next graced the crowd with her presence, The Shield walked out as a unit.

Dusty Rhodes in the ring about to leave and Stephanie standing in the middle, the four members moved down, Seth and Roman on one side of the crowd, Dean and Bobbi on the other. They jumped the barricades, circled around the ring menacingly.

"Hang on a second, hang on a second," Stephanie said down into the microphone. "This seems a little unfair, and I've got somebody out the back that can even things out a little. Oh, Big Show? Big Show would you mind coming out here please?"

The boys jumped onto the apron and Bobbi moved out of the way to let him in. He didn't look at her once.

"Let me shed a little light on this situation, Dream. So since you couldn't make a decision about which one of your sons would get a job here, then you're gonna have another choice. Would you prefer to be _dismembered_ by The Shield, or knocked out by the Big Show? Your choice."

But Dusty stood stockstill and mouthed 'no'.

"Oh, you're not gonna make a choice again? A bit indecisive? Well I'll make it for you. Big Show, _knock him out_. He brought this on himself, I was offering his son's a job."

Bobbi slid out of the ring as Show declined, yet made his presence very noticeable when he yelled at The Shield to back off. Disappearing under the apron of the ring, Bobbi produced four steel chairs and slid them up into Roman's waiting hands.

They slammed them down on the mat. _Come on, Show, if you don't do it, we will_. And he did. Caught Dusty Rhodes before he could crumple to the ground like the good giant he was.

—

"You're head okay?" Roman asked Bobbi later that evening, frowning at the woman.

She touched the back of it and winced, shook her head. "Hurts like hell but I'll get over it."

Seth turned in his seat, wriggled his eyebrows at her and smiled cheekily. "Now you have two matching bruises, at least."

"Yes, because two is always better than one," she deadpanned.

During Daniel Bryan's match against Roman, she'd gone to pull Roman out of the ring, to check if he was okay, but received two big feet to the side of her head that send her flying backwards. And if she hadn't of slammed the back of her head off the front of the announce table, she would have been just fine. Yet it seemed recently that luck certainly wasn't in her favour.

So now she had a yellow-green bruise that surrounded the scar on her hairline and a lump on the back of her head. _Perfect_.

They were on their way to Dean's birth state - Cincinnati - but Dean wasn't excited at all. In fact, his head was dropped back against the chair, mouth open, lightly snoring. There was a cap pulled low over his face. He looked adorable.

Roman was driving and they were two hours into the trip, had been going since the ending of Raw at 11PM, and they weren't set to get in until just before 3AM. The small rental they were driving could barely fit the four of them, but somehow, they made it work.

"So, Bobbi," Seth started.

She looked up from her phone expectantly, eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"

"When were you gonna tell us your name was Barbara?" He had this smirk on his face like he was extremely proud to show off the fact that he'd found out.

Bobbi rolled her eyes. "Probably never."

"And why would that be, _Barbara_?"

"Because I prefer Bobbi." She hardened her gaze at the smug man. "And if you call me Barbara one more time I will actually throw you out of a plane."

When they arrived at the hotel, Bobbi softly shook Dean awake.

"Come on, princess," she murmured as she shook his shoulders, taking the cap off of his head. "Time to get into bed."

He pouted, frowned, let out a deep sigh. "Carry me."

She chuckled at him and then let Roman do the rest as she got her bag from the boot.

Walking into the reception area, Bobbi smiled tiredly at the lady that was on night duty. "Hi," she said quietly. "We have two rooms on hold until tomorrow morning?"

"Sure, I'll just get your names," the lady replied, all bright smiles and happiness. "Bobbi, right? Sorry, that probably sounds creepy. But I'm a massive fan, I watch the WWE all the time."

Bobbi grinned at the woman. "That's okay, not creepy at all."

She taped away on the computer in front of her, swiped a couple of key cards. Then sheepishly looked up at Bobbi. "Are the rest of The Shield with you?"

"Yeah, they're outside waiting."

"That's so awesome," the young lady whispered, literally making heart eyes. "You guys are so badass, I love how they put you in with them to mix it up a bit."

Laughing, Bobbi took the cards offered to her and handed over the company credit card. "Glad to hear that you like it, means a lot to me."

The lady glanced around a bit, then looked up at Bobbi with pleading eyes. "I know you're probably really tired, since it's like 3AM, but is it okay if I get a photo with you? You don't even have to move, just stand there and be yourself."

Bobbi laughed, nodded her head and grinned a little as the camera phone captured the moment.

"What took so long?" Seth moaned as Bobbi walked out of the foyer, hunched over in a sleepy state and looking unimpressed.

"The receptionist was a fan, asked a couple of questions and for a photo," Bobbi replied. "It's probably going to make her whole week, so I said why not."

"Meanwhile we cook to death out here and collapse from exhaustion."

"Oh, get over it, you baby."

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **September 17th**

 **Cincinnati, Ohio**

Vicki Guerrero was one of those people who yelled into a microphone even if it did nothing to make her voice louder, one of those people who yelled during a phone conversation. Bobbi didn't really like those kinds of people. No one needed to hear them that much.

They were set to go on just over half an hour into the show for an 11-3 elimination match and when they did, Randy Orton was down in the ring. Talking about himself, no less. _Surprising_.

He finished his little speech and their music hit and they walked out, slicked up and ready for battle, and Bobbi trailed them, sat on the barricade where she usually was. _Please, don't let Vicki scream right in her ear._

Darren young was first out, quickly eliminated, and then his team mate ran out full head of steam and right into the brick wall that was The Shield.

Bobbi smiled as Dolph Ziggler came out. She liked him. A little. Had yet to spend time with him outside of talking about scripts, but could tell that he was like the class clown of the locker room. She liked a funny guy. When he was speared outside the ring, he didn't get back up.

Kofi was out next, put up a solid flurry against the boys, hitting Reigns with the Trouble in Paradise until Ambrose jumped on his back and took control.

Jumping off her spot, Bobbi walked over to a crouching Roman who was clutching his head. She pulled him up, hit her fists against his chest to fire him back up, yelled, "Get back into it, Ro!"

" _And look at Bobbi here at ringside, firing up a hurt Roman Reigns!_ "

He fell into her hands a bit more as RVD ran out strongly against the two boys left into the ring and completely dominated them. And then The Game's music blared over the speakers as he walked out in a huff, yelling for the referee to stop the match. He looked _pissed_.

Hunter walked over to Vicki, yelled at her to get back to his office, and then pointed at Bobbi. "You too, Bob, get the other boys," he said, and then walked off in the same kind of storm he arrived in.

They followed the obviously ticked off man out the back, set up for the segment in his office.

"What was that Vicki? What were you doing, what were you thinking?" Hunter angrily questioned. "Vicki, look at me when I'm talking to you! What the _hell_ was that?!"

She looked up, upset and scared.

But Hunter continued. "You have any idea what you did? Ten guys, that is it, _ten_ guys ran into help Daniel Bryan, and you know what happens when you did what you did tonight? Then it's ten more guys, then it's ten more guys-"

"But it's-" Vicki tried to interrupt.

"Next thing you've got a full scale revolt on your hands!"

"I thought it was best for business!" She defended.

"Best for business?" Hunter's voice dropped, eyes wild. "Vicki you have no idea what's _best_ for business. What's best for business is _fair, honest_ competition between these guys, they need to feel safe and they need to feel like there just in a competitive environment and that's what we're gonna give them. So you're gonna go, and make a match right now. You're going to put The Shield in a six man tag match against the number one contenders for the tag-team titles, the Uso's, and their partner, Daniel Bryan. Now, go make the match up."

She scurried out of the office like a dog with its tail between its legs, and then Hunter turned towards Bobbi, who had been leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and heeled foot up on the white surface.

"Go make sure she doesn't make any more stupid decisions," he seethed at her.

Bobbi snorted, flicked her head to the side to get her silver hair out of her face. "You're making me baby-sit her?"

"Do you _want_ anymore injustices like what we just saw?"

Pushing off the wall, Bobbi's eyes flashed and then she was out of the door in a huff.

She had another thirty minutes to kill before she'd go out and support her boys again, walked into the catering room by herself. Her eyes were locked on her phone as she typed away at a message she was going to send to one of her friends who lived here. When the chair across from her scraped against the floor, Bobbi's eyes shifted up and locked on to the dark hazel of Wade Barrett's. Inwardly she groaned.

"We need to talk," he commanded, British voice strong and imposing. "And you need to sit there and be a normal person for once in your life."

Bobbi's eyebrows met her hairline, trying not to cringe at the instant throbbing the still healing wound on her head caused.

"No one needs to know about what happened between us, alright? No one."

She snorted at him. "Well, that's all fine and dandy, Barrett, but Bray and Phil were there when you had your little meltdown, remember? Not my fault you couldn't handle yourself in public."

"Just, for one second, stop being sassy _._ You've kept your mouth shut so far, yeah? Just keep it like that."

"Wade, are you _scared_ of people finding out that you're a pansy little bitch?" She stood then, slipped her phone into a pocket of her vest, and then placed her hands on the table to bend over and glare at him with burning eyes. "Here's the truth of what really happened; you tried to play me and I made a complete _fool_ of you, and now you're begging for me not to tell anyone that you're actually a shallow shit that uses people to get what he wants? Wade, you really don't know me, do you? I've heard you spread rumours about me, I know what you call me behind my back, but let's get one thing real clear. I don't care about you, I don't even think about you, so I don't talk about you. If you're still butt-hurt enough after all these years to be _this_ insecure about yourself, that's not my problem. Stop trying to push yourself back into my life. We work at the same place, but we're not acquaintances, or friends, or whatever you want us to be. Get the fuck over yourself and leave me the fuck alone."

When she made to move away, his hands snatched at her wrist, but before he could even do anything, Dean Ambrose had clenched his fingers around Wade's arm.

"I think she's _done_ talking to you, Barrett," he warned, voice low and dangerous and doing things to the inside of Bobbi's gut.

Bobbi appreciatively looked at Ambrose and then together they walked away from the scene.

"The fuck's his problem, darlin'?" Dean muttered as he threw a look over his shoulder.

"He thinks he has some kind of hold over me because we slept together a couple of years ago," Bobbi said with a roll of her eyes, gentle smile on her face. "Don't think he's over the fact that I was never in love with him."

Dean laughed as he threw his arm around her shoulder. "The untouchable Bobbi Arlett, huh?"

She blushed. "You heard the rumours, then?"

"Nah," he shook his head at her, dimples forming in his cheeks. "Just that apparently you're 'untouchable'. Don't even know what that means, you're like a teddy bear."

"Says you who needs someone in the same bed as him!"

"Shhhhh," he hissed, looking around with fake worry. "They'll think I'm less masculine if they know I like body warmth."

Bobbi laughed at him, twenty minutes later waiting with Vicki at the curtain. She jumped up and down, shook out her muscles to get her blood pumping and pulled her hair back in a tight pony tail.

"So, Bobbi," Vicki said. "How are you liking working with the WWE?"

"It's fine," she breathed back, avoiding eye contact.

But Vicki kept talking and with a stab of realisation, Bobbi realised that Vicki was also _one of those people_ that had to fill every kind of space with words. Her eyes rolled heavily back into her head as she tuned out, continued her pre-TV routine.

When Daniel Bryan was the last one out into the ring, she pushed Vicki out onto the stage with a shove, bared down on the woman until she was scurrying like a rat to get away from the intimidating Shield member. Bobbi caught up, shoved her again, hissed through her teeth as the general manager looked back at her in fear. As they reached the commentary table, Bobbi pushed Vicki harshly into the chair that was waiting for her, trapped the older woman by placing both her hands on the armrest, and pushed her back into the barricade.

Threateningly, she bared her teeth, eyes ablaze, and said loud enough for the cameras to hear, "If you move so much as a centimetre, I will have you on that mat _flat_ on your back in less then ten seconds, you hear?"

" _I don't think Bobbi Arlett is very happy about being charged as Vicki's baby-sitter tonight, John…"_

She pushed away from the terrified woman then, turned to meet the eyes of a laughing Seth Rollins. She resumed her spot on the barricade and then watched the match unfold.

When her boys lost, she was slow to leave her spot on the barricade, but quick to turn on a terrified Vicki Guerrero. A new found power came over Vicki and she stood up, glaring at Bobbi, and then slapped her across the face.

The crowd, who were already celebrating Daniel Bryan's win, cheered even louder.

But when Bobbi turned back to face Vicki, her jaw locked, her eyes now ice cold and calculating, the general manager didn't even have a chance to defend herself from the blow that was coming; kicking and screaming Bobbi grabbed fist full of hair and her arm and swung the older woman off her feet and into the padded barricade.

And while Bobbi knew that Vicki had wanted to do this, she doubted Vicki knew how much pain she was going to be in until that very moment.

—

Later on that evening Bobbi ducked her head around the corner of the medical room, eyes finding a very sore looking Vicki Guerrero.

"Hey, you alright?" She asked, half frown creasing her skin. The woman nodded her head and she sighed in relief. "You took that hit like a champion, I'm proud of you."

Vicki smiled at her. "Don't know how you do the house shows after taking those kinda hits."

"You get used to the pain, I guess," Bobbi replied. She excused herself and headed back to the back entrance, picking up her duffle bag and throwing it over her shoulder when she reached the corridor it was in.

She was wearing a loose dark grey singlet that dipped in a deep v-neck, denim shorts that just covered the tattoo on her thigh and some worn down boots on her feet. Without her usual heels, Bobbi was an easy 5'8; not too short, not too tall. She'd scrubbed the red off her lips, pulled her hair out, was ready for a night with one of her friends.

Phone buzzing in her back pocket, Bobbi pulled it out and sighed. This wouldn't be good.

"Sarah," she said as she answered, trying to force a smile into her voice. "You're not cancelling on me are you?"

The lady on the other side of the line sighed, sniffed. "Sorry, babe. Craig wants a quiet night in, couldn't say no to him."

She heard the words but what really changed her attitude was the hidden meaning. _Couldn't say no_. Craig wouldn't let her out, the controlling bastard.

"You alone?"

Laughing, Sarah said, "No. Not tonight."

And Bobbi's blood was _boiling_. Dean caught her eye, frowning as he finished signing the roster sheet. "Has he touched you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"I'll be there in twenty."

Bobbi leant her head against the wall, gently tapped her hand against the surface until she hit it with a loud slap and pushed off, angry beyond reason. And walked right into Dean's chest.

"Whoever you're killing tonight can wait-"

"Get the fuck out of my way."

Dean stepped back, his eyes wide at the tone she'd just used with him, like he'd never expected her to talk to him like that in a million years. And then he pursed his lips and nodded.

"Go wait by the car," he told her, and then walked away.

So when she signed out, she did just that. He turned up two minutes later with the keys, told her to get in.

"What are you doing?"

Dean looked at her like she was stupid. "You _actually_ look like you're about to kill someone, darlin', I'm just here to stop you from doing anything you'll regret. Now, tell me where to."

"Roman and Seth?"

"They can find their own way back," he shrugged off.

So they drove in complete silence after that. Bobbi still had waves of anger rolling off of her and Dean was content to let the music settle the quietness. She was lucky that he knew his way around, because as soon as she'd told him, he knew exactly where it was.

They pulled up and Bobbi was out of the car quick as lightning, banging her fist on the front door like the world was burning down. When Sarah opened the door and Bobbi saw the bruise on her cheek, her sight went _red_.

"Where is he?" She hissed. "I swear to God, Sarah-"

"Barbara?"

Her blood turned ice at the sound of his voice and then she shoved the door open further and slammed her fist across Craig's face. She fell on top of him, punching him over and over again until there was blood dripping from his nose and his eye was swollen shut and then there were hands under her arms, lifting her off the defenceless man.

"Get your hands off of me!" Bobbi screamed, clawing and trying to fight her way out of his grip, but with his height and strength advantage, there was no hope.

The man on the floor looked up at her as a tear of pain fell from his shut eye. "Missed you too, sis."

She growled, struggled again. "You're so fucking lucky, Craig, because the next time you lay a hand on her I'm actually going to rip your testicles from your body and we'll see how _fucking_ masculine you are then, yeah?"

Dean hissed behind her, obviously imagining the pain associated with her threat, and slackened his grip a little.

But Bobbi turned to Sarah, looking at the poor woman with her hands over her mouth and obviously scared. "I told you not to get involved, Sar, I told you he was bad news. Pack your things, you're leaving."

"Bar-"

"This isn't up for discussion, Sarah. Until he can learn to control himself, he's not going anywhere near you."

Sarah's face fell. She knew Bobbi was right, knew that her boyfriends older sibling had a very good point. "Yeah, okay," she whispered, shuffling out of the living room and leaving the three alone.

"You can let go now," Bobbi lowly said, "I'm not gonna touch him anymore."

Dean believed her, dropped his arms, stood back.

"I didn't-"

Bobbi cut her brother off. "Don't you _dare_ even try and tell me you didn't mean it, Craig. First with Heather, now with Sarah? My God, you really have no control over it, do you?"

"I just get so angry…" he trailed off.

"And so do I, but I don't go slapping people around because of it." She glanced down at Craig, rolled her eyes. "Most of the time, anyway."

Bobbi's eyes drooped shut and she put a head against her head, suddenly exhausted and wanting nothing more than rest. "Find some anger management classes, keep on your pills, it's not hard. If this happens one more time, I'm turning you in to the cops and they can deal with you in their own way."

"Yeah…" he sniffed. "Yeah, okay. I'm sorry Barb, just as you're going good, I go and stuff things up again."

"Yeah, you do. But it's enough, okay? I don't want to have to tell people that my little brother is a girlfriend beater, I don't want you to tarnish mom and dad with the way you act." Bobbi stopped, looked at him. "You drive her home, okay? Don't pull any guilt trips, don't do anything stupid. Just take her home and then come back and have some aspirin and sleep it off."

Craig nodded at her, still looked absolutely shattered. Being beat up by his own sister set something into place in his head. Like a wake up call he never got last time.

"I'll give you a call tomorrow," she muttered. She turned to Dean, looked at him through half shut eyes. "Come on, let's go."

 **hey guys! hope you enjoyed the update, drop a comment, let me know how this is going, point out any errors, give me some love - anything, really! :***


	5. Chapter 5

"So."

Bobbi looked across at Dean the next morning, face relaxed and gentle and a complete opposite from the night before. "So?"

"That was your baby bro, last night?"

"Yeah," she sighed, head falling back onto the pillow as she closed her eyes. "He grew up around the wrong people, y'know? Mom and dad tried to get him some help, but then dad died and he kinda flew off the handles… started to lose his temper at the smallest of things, hit his girlfriend and got diagnosed with IED. He's supposed to be on pills for it, but he forgets a lot to take them."

She heard a shuffle and then when she popped her eyes back open, Roman was laying next to her, mimicking her position. "Dean said you went ape shit."

Laughing, Bobbi shook her head. "Not really. Craig knows how to defend himself, he could've easily stopped me."

Roman nodded, looked down at his phone and then passed it over to her. "You seen this?"

The screen was a photo of her and the receptionist from last night. She looked tired as all hell yet managed to look pulled together at the same time, and the receptionist had the cheesiest grin on her words overlaying the photo read "met this AMAZING woman last night, super chill and even let me have a photo #BobbiArlett #TheShield #crying".

Bobbi smiled and dropped her head back down on the pillow. She didn't end up getting much rest last night and then at 8AM Seth had pulled her to the Crossfit centre for some training, so she was running on four hours of shut eye and adrenalin.

"Hey, so Steph mentioned you weren't coming to the house shows?" Roman asked as he fell back into place beside a reading Dean.

"No, no I'm not," Bobbie affirmed, "Gonna catch a flight tonight to Chicago and drive up to Winthrop and then drive around to the arena on Monday afternoon."

"Are we that annoying?" Seth said, pouting as he ducked out from the bathroom with dirty clothes in one hand and a protein bar in the other.

"Damn straight you are."

Dean looked up then, frown forming on his adorable face. "Even after all I did for you last night, darlin'?"

Bobbi hummed, then nodded. "Okay, you can come."

As Dean 'ha'-ed in triumph, Seth and Roman started throwing all the things they'd done for her into a yelling match, trying to one up the other until the whole room was filled with noisy words and desperate pleas.

The plan for Bobbi was to go and visit her mom back in Winthrop Harbor and pick up some clothes, then to drive across to the beach house and recuperate there for a couple of days until the swelling on the back of her head had calmed down. The on-site doctor had informed Stephanie and Hunter that there was nothing wrong, but that since she'd taken two big knocks to the head two weeks in a row she should rest for a bit. Vince had been the one to give to go ahead and he'd given her a call to tell her to look after herself, that he'd look forward to seeing her on screen Monday night.

"That's it!" Seth's eyes were wide with a plan and Bobbi inwardly groaned - whenever he got that look, it wasn't good news for her. "We can all go!"

"Uh, no," Bobbi deadpanned. "You guys have house shows and signings."

"Actually, not this week." Roman told her. His smile was smug, like the decision had already been made, and Bobbi looked across as Dean with wide, pleading eyes.

He threw his hands up. "Hey, don't look at me, sweetheart."

"Stop them," she moaned, throwing an arm back over her face.

In the end, and much to the boys' disapproval, Stephanie put a halt to their plans and told them to stick with the rest of the roster.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **September 23rd**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

On the stage to kick off the night were ten superstars; Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, the Uso's, Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Zac Ryder, R-Truth, and Justin Gabriel. The same ten superstars that had run out onto the stage at the end of last weeks Raw and had laid siege to The Shield, the same ten superstars that had cleared them from the ring and held up Daniel Bryan in victory.

Bobbi walked out with her bosses, past her boys with a smile. She paused when she was behind Reigns, turned to whack his arm playfully, and then winked at Ambrose when he shifted to look at her. Then she was up on the top turnbuckle, throwing her legs over the side and flexing the muscles in her arms as she kept her balance.

"Welcome to Monday night Raw!" Hunter started, voice booming across the arena.

"Boy, it feels good to be here in Chicago," Stephanie commented.

The crowd went crazy, Bobbi fighting to keep the smile off her face.

But Triple H continued. "Well, you can all look on that stage and see the ten men that you saw moments ago standing in this ring in unity, bound together holding Daniel Bryan up above their heads as he chanted 'yes! Yes! Yes!'"

As the chant took over, Stephanie mockingly joined them.

"And we've seen in social media all the speculation from all of you," he turned to the superstars in question, all ten of them up on the stage. "Are we gonna get punished? Are we gonna get fired? Well, let me just clarify right now, we have asked all of you to be here, stand on that stage, for one simple reason tonight. And that is to say…"

As Hunter trailed off, Stephanie took over. "Thank you! Thank you for taking matters into your _own_ hands, thank you for _stepping_ up to the plate, thank you for shining and grabbing that brass ring, and thank you for finally being _men_!"

"That's right," Hunter affirmed, "Thank you for finally stepping up. I know it has absolutely nothing to do with Daniel Bryan and the fact that Daniel Bryan was in this ring…"

Rob Van Dam stepped forward. He spoke over the top of Hunter, voice not angry but definitely wanted to prove a point. "Come on, dude. The fact is, and I think I speak for everybody up here, we were fighting for Daniel Bryan. You screwed him over, you'd do the same to us. We were only fighting for what is right."

Again the crowd went wild, shouting in approval at RVD's words.

And Hunter was laughing, shaking his head and running his hand across his jaw. "Wow," he said, "I find it hard to believe that all of you were fighting for Daniel Bryan. I've never known a WWE superstar that fought _for_ a WWE Champion, I always thought WWE superstars fought to _be_ a WWE Champion."

He paused and looked at the other superstars on the stage. "Let- let me ask, Dolph, is that how _you_ feel? So let me get this straight, you were out here fighting _for_ Daniel Bryan who's had opportunity after opportunity that he has squandered at the WWE Championship…"

Bobbi zoned out, shifting in her spot to look more directly at the men on the stage. She'd yet to actually talk to the Prime Time Players, Justin Gabriel and R-Truth, but what she'd heard was promising; all nice guys, Titus with two little boys.

"…and that reason is The Shield."

Bobbi narrowed her eyes and shifted her attention to Hunter. She tilted her head at him.

"I understand your frustration guys, because The Shield has run rough shot on this place since the day they walked in the door." Hunter continued. "They have collectively beaten down each and everyone of you on that stage. I can sense that frustration, I can sense that frustration among all of you. It has nothing to do with Daniel Bryan; last weeks show of unity had to do with frustration with The Shield. And I'm gonna give you the opportunity to take that frustration out tonight. I am gonna give all of you, Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, the Uso's, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam, Kofi Kingston, Zac Ryder, R-Truth and Justin Gabriel… all of you are gonna get the opportunity to take that frustration out tonight when you compete in an elimination handicap match against The Shield."

Bobbi slowly uncrossed her legs, folded her arms against her chest as she descended the stairs, moving to stand between Dean Ambrose and the barricade.

"And I'm gonna give you a partner. Hopefully a partner that will fight for you as hard as you supposedly fought for him. Your partner will be a gentleman that gets _another_ shot at the WWE championship at battleground."

"Is he joking?" Bobbi hissed at Dean, the latter turning with the rest of her boys to stare up at the couple who ran everything.

He announced their partner as Daniel Bryan and then looked down at an incredulous Bobbi. "And Bobbi, since your unpredictability could make things a little unfair, you're banned from ringside."

The arms around Bobbi's chest dropped. _What_?

Dean put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down as she seethed at her boss. "Come on, Arlett, we got this."

—

"Normally, I come out here with a smile on my face and welcome you to the show, but I'm banged up and really pissed off." The Miz was standing in the middle of the ring, blue eyes burning with anger. He was set up for his interview show, Miz TV, and was dressed in a crisp grey suit. "Last Monday night on Raw, I was humiliated by Randy Orton in front of my friends, in front of my family, in front of my Mother. Randy Orton, let it be _known_ that it's a lot easier to knock me down than to keep me down; this isn't over by a long shot. And Randy Orton, payback _will_ come, and it _will_ be awesome."

The Miz didn't change his tone. He was one of the ones that seemed to speak lower, deeper when they were mad. "But I wasn't the only one seeking medical attention last Monday night on Raw. Per the orders of Stephanie McMahon - as unbelievable as it may sound - one of the most beloved WWE superstars and a WWE Hall of Famer was knocked out by the worlds largest athlete and my guest at this time, the Big Show."

When Show joined him on the stage, Miz handed him a microphone and continued with the segment. "Show… I've known you for nearly a decade. We've been tag team champions together, we've been on opposite sides of the ring together where we've ripped one another's heads off as competitors, and I respect you as a man." The Big Show nodded his head at the shorter man. "And as a man, I wanna ask how you could do _that_ to Dusty Rhodes? How could you do that to a living legend? The man who was a mentor to you, the man who was like a father figure to you… how could you do that?"

Show didn't answer. The Miz didn't expect him to. "Look, I get that you have personal issues and I sympathise with that, I get that Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are taking advantage of those issues. We all know that if you didn't do that to Dusty Rhodes, then Triple H and Stephanie McMahon…well, they would've sicked the hounds of hell onto Dusty Rhodes, beat him down to a bloody pulp.

"But don't you see what they're doing, Show?" He continued. "Don't you see what they're doing? They're trying to _break_ you. They're trying to break you because you're the largest guy in the locker room and you have the utmost respect from all the WWE superstars, and if they break _you_ , they can break _everybody_ \- at least, that's what they think. But now, Show? _Now,_ Show? The WWE superstars are starting to step up, and it's time for you, Big Show, to _step up_."

He walked forward, eyes trying to light a fire in Show's. "Stop letting that castrating witch demean and demoralise you, _stand up_ and look her in the eye-"

Stephanie's music blared across the speakers before Miz could finish his sentence. The crowd booed as she walked into the ring, as Show handed his mic to her.

"I'm gonna let a lot of that slide, Miz, because I know you like to stir the pot here on Miz TV," she told him, a hint of humour in her voice. "But there's no reason to _berate_ the Big Show, I mean, your line of questioning is absolutely _disrespectful_ , and as far as my husband and I are concerned, it's borderline slander."

Miz stared at her. "Really, Steph? You're gonna come out here and make legal threats? I tell you what, you can take your legal threats and shove them straight up your ass."

"Heeeyooo," Stephanie laughed into the microphone, trying to cover up the last of Miz's sentence. "That's very original, Miz. _Very_ original. Let me just say that the reason you are out here doing this to the Big Show right now is because you're living on your own colder-sac of disappointment. Quiet frankly, you understand your own inadequacies, Miz, given the fact that you suffered a beating at the hands of Randy Orton in the middle of this ring last week that was absolutely humiliating. You know you're not a major player, Miz, and there's nothing worse than a superstar who _peaks_ too early."

In her spot, Bobbi let out a low laugh at the burn.

"But I will say this, you do have value. You're what we call a _utility_ player. When there's a radio show that needs an appearance early in the morning, we call the Miz. When we need someone to do an appearance in some far off corner of the world, you're the guy that we call. And when there's a local supermarket that's opening that needs an extra promotion, well Miz - you are our guy.

"And it's not that we haven't given you opportunities or chances, I mean last week the stakes couldn't have been higher, we were in your _home town -_ I watched your mom, I watched the look in her eyes go from hope to absolute _disappointment_. Because you failed her, you failed your family, you failed your friends, and most importantly, Miz? You failed _yourself._ Randy Orton _dismembered_ you in this ring, and once again you just couldn't _measure_ up, and yet… you never learn your lesson, because here you are."

Stephanie was smug, her voice confident. She was tearing The Miz a new one. "Well, I'm sorry to have to do this to you, Miz… Big Show? Knock him out."

Big Show stood complacent, shook his head no as Miz looked over his shoulder. Stephanie smiled, as if she had expected this to happen, and then lifted the microphone to her mouth one last time.

"You leave me no other choice. Bobbi?"

The woman dashed out from the time keepers area where she'd been hiding, slipped into the ring behind The Miz and launched herself at him, slid her hands between his arms and up around his neck, interlocked her fingers, kicked his leg out from under him to perform his finisher.

The crowd was booing loudly and in a flash of silver and black hair Bobbi was out of the ring and walking away.

—

"You ready to go?"

Bobbi smiled and looked over her shoulder as she shoved the last of her belongings into a bag. "You ready to get your ass handed to you?"

Phil faked a cocky laugh, threw his head back and then cackled. "All talk no game, Arlett."

Chucking her duffle at him, she sashayed out of the room and dodged his soft punch. Together they walked to the roster list, signed their names off, handed their bags off to one of the security guards and walked to Bobbi's bike.

"Can't believe you brought this thing," Phil murmured as he ran his hand over the seat. "You still drive crazy?"

She tossed him a helmet and wriggled her eyebrows, saying "I guess you'll just have to wait and see, huh?" before getting on and revving her bike. Bobbi pulled the helmet down over her head and tucked her hair up into the leather jacket she was wearing.

The drive to the bar was wonderful, Phil's hands wrapped tight around her waist as she very carefully manoeuvred her way through cars. He was anxious of her driving, though always jumped at the chance to get on to back of the Kawasaki. Bray, on the other hand, loved riding with her.

The three of them were crashing a local bar that belonged to one of Phil's friends, a small pub that had two pool tables, a bunch of old leather seats, even an old music player. What Bobbi was most looking forward to, though was absolutely _kicking_ Bray and Phil's asses in a game of snooker - something that she had mastered the skill at when her father had bought the snooker table at the beach shack.

When they arrived, Phil hugged a man who was dressed in some flip flops, shorts and a button down top. Her eyebrows raised when she realised that he was the owner, had never known owners to look so casual. She liked him right away.

"Bob!" Phil called. "This is Greg, he runs this little joint."

Bobbi smiled at him and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you!"

"You too," he replied easily, smiling wide as he raised his shoulders. "So, you with Phil here in the WWE?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "Not anywhere near as cool as him though."

Phil threw his arm across her shoulder and shook her a little, saying, "Oh, that's a lie and you and I know it." He looked across to Greg, wriggled his eyebrows. "Dark and Stormy for the lady, please."

"I'll get right on it," he laughed, turning away from the troublesome two.

Bobbi turned to Phil with a wide smile and wrung her hands together. "No one's playing."

When he looked over at the billiards table, Phil sighed, already accepting his demise. "Bigs and smalls or snooker?"

"Doesn't matter."

So they played and Bobbi gave him a good hiding, getting shots that looked like a fluke and snookering Phil more times than he could count. By the time Bray arrived, Bobbi was well on her way to defeating Phil a second time and well on her way to being drunk.

"Heeeeey," she drawled out, enclosing the man in a big hug. "Was wondering when you were gonna show up."

Bray laughed at her and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Had to shoot a promo, doll. Glad you missed me, though."

While Phil and Bray did their weird little handshake, Bobbi set up for another shot. She leant over the table, eye level with the cue ball, curved her ass up into the air. Stilling her movements, she took a deep breath. Then hit the white ball with such strength it pushed a big in and came back up the table to set her up for another shot.

Her voice was loud as she sang to the song that was playing in the background, smile wide on her face as she took another sip of the rum based drink.

"She's in a good mood," Bray said quietly to the sober man next to him.

"Yeah, Craig called her and told her that he'd checked himself into anger management classes and put his relationship on hold until things were sorted out," Phil replied. He smiled then as Bobbi sunk another ball. "She's pant-sing me, Bray, you gotta help me out here."

Bobbi danced around the table, silver and black hair swaying with her movements.

Slowly the bar began to fill up with people. Some recognised the three wrestlers, some didn't. They were lucky, though, that Chicago natives were so laid back that they only asked for a couple of photos and then left them alone to enjoy the night.

They were on the fourth game when Bray decided that Phil had been through enough losses and stepped up to take his place. Bray was much better than the other wrestler, had played a lot as a teenager growing up like Bobbi had.

The match-up was a clinic, and Bobbi's loud shouts of anguish and triumph drew a crowd in that watched with anticipation.

With Bobbi back on bigs and Bray on smalls, they were left with three balls each. She ducked into a squat, lined up her shot with one eye closed, and then stood to hit it smoothly into the pocket. The backspin had prevented the cue ball from following, and she made quick time to sink the next one. She was setting up for her last one when some guy accidentally bumped her, sending the cue ball in the wrong way.

"Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry, sweat-heart," he apologised as she turned to glare at him. And then her glare dropped when she took in the beautiful features of his face.

Bobbi leaned back on the table, crooked smile curving her lips. "If you buy me a drink, I might forgive you."

And though Bobbi lost the game off of the distraction, she was still walking around with her head high and when her eyes locked on the big ol' blues of the man that had cost her the game, she excused herself to go sit next to him.

"How about that drink?" She asked, teasing nature in her voice as she bit her lip.

The man nodded and smiled. "Sure. What'd you like, beautiful?"

She put her head on her hand and playfully pondered before looking back up at him. "Brandy Buck, if I may."

He nodded again, but this time it was at her choice, seemingly impressed. She didn't know why, didn't particularly care, because this man looked like an angel sent to her by the Gods themselves. With deep blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair and a dimple that cut his left cheek in half, he was absolutely _gorgeous_. And dressed impeccably well, with a simple maroon button down shit and dark jeans.

"I'm Bobbi," she told him. "It's nice to meet you."

"Jack," he reciprocated. He looked back at the table where her two friends were, motioned at them with his hand. "You're pretty good at that, you know. You a professional?"

"I am a professional," she laughed, "but not for that. I grew up playing it, so it's kind of engrained into my memory."

Jack pursed his lips at her explanation, took a sip from his beer. "You're very attractive, you know?"

She smiled back at him with appreciation as a blush filled her cheeks. "Could say the same thing about you. You always bump women to get their attention?"

He grinned at her words and shook his head. "Not all of them." His eyes bored into hers and she met them with the same intensity through her drunken haze. "Just you."

"It worked," she murmured.

Pulling her to her boot covered feet, Jack led her outside with a hand that trailed dangerously close to her ass. She looked over her shoulder, caught Phil's eyes and wriggled her eyebrows before the door closed, and then she was around the side and pushed up against the wall.

Though Jack looked like an angel, he wasn't soft like one.

He pressed his lips against hers roughly, all tongue and sucking and disgusting, and to save herself she tilted her head to the side, sunk her teeth into the side of his neck. He moaned against her and _no_ , that sounded _wrong_ and not like D- she paused in her thoughts. Then wrapped a hand around his neck to press her lips back onto his.

A hand shoved up her flimsy singlet, slipped around her back to undo the bra clasp, and then he was fondling her right breast, running his thumb over her nipple.

There was another moan and this time Bobbi let his name slip into her mind, let herself think about the way Dean would moan if he were this man. She shivered at the thought, and Jack took it as a sign of things heading in the right direction as he pushed his hips against hers.

She pushed him away then, re-clasped her bra. She gave him a wink, slunk off back into the bar to avoid his questions.

Making a bee-line towards where Bray and Phil were sitting down in the booth, she looked quickly over her shoulder.

"You're back sooner than I thought," Bray said, looking up at her with a frown as she threw herself across his lap.

"Quick, pretend I'm asleep."

The two men laughed at her antics and Bobbi started to breathe deeply, almost snoring, as Jack came back in and found her.

"What the hell?" She heard him ask. "Wake her up!"

"Nah, man," Phil replied. "She's completely smashed and out like a light, won't wake up for the next five hours or so."

He hissed in defeat and there was silence and Bobbi assumed that he'd walked away, peeled open a single eye to see him walk out the door.

"Oh, thank God," she sighed in relief. "He was terrible, way too touchy and all tongue and _yuck_."

She eyed off Bray's beer in front of her and took a big gulp, then fumbled her phone out of her pocket. It was buzzing, a photo of Dean's sleeping face up on her screen as he rang her.

"Dean," she laughed as she answered, "you gonna come join us?"

There was a chuckle down the line and then he said "Not tonight, darlin'. Gonna come pick you up, though."

"Party pooper," Bobbi humphed. "Fine. Whatever."

When he finally arrived, Bobbi had actually drifted off into a slumber. He half-carried half-walked her to the car, took her bike keys and handed them to Bray before buckling her in to the passenger seat.

He ducked back around to the other side, started the car, and then they were driving off into the night.

"Enjoy yourself, Bob?"

"Hmm," she breathed. "I'm tired."

"I can tell."

She peeked at him from the corner of her eye, gave him a good once over. Dean didn't look like an angel, but he was attractive to her in an unconventional way. His dimples were soft, eyes like the sky, gorgeous pink lips. A wide tongue. Broad shoulders and pecs that dipped down into a thin waist. Bobbi rolled her head back onto the cool window to try and cool her thoughts off.

The last thing she wanted to do was weird him out, start hitting on him when he probably didn't even see her that way, yet she turned her had back to him and trailed a hand through his hair, down the side of his neck.

"You're so pretty," she whispered. She ducked her head and laughed. "Sorry, that's not very manly, is it?"

He smiled back at her and when they reached the hotel, he guided her to their room. But she didn't let go of him, instead she pulled him down with her.

"Stay."

Dean sighed at the command but didn't move. She had her arms across his chest, face pressed into his arm, nose against his bicep. He could feel her hot breath fall across his arm, and he slowly wrapped an arm around her waist to shift her into a more comfortable position.

When she woke up, Dean was snoring and still holding her tightly against him.

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **24th September**

 **Milwaukee, Wisconsin**

Bobbi was only set for one appearance that night and it was one alongside her boys.

" _And look at this footage that was caught at the start of tonight, this heated exchange between Seth Rollins and Bobbi Arlett…_ "

"Where the _hell_ were you Monday night, huh?!" He yelled, shoving her back with eyes that screamed anger. "What the hell were you so busy doing that you weren't there when we needed you, huh?"

She hissed back at him, looked him right in the eye as she stood nose to nose with her unimpressed stable member. "Were you not there at ringside when Triple H _banned_ me from being there?"

Rollins huffed. He turned away and wrung his hands together and then looked back over his shoulder. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again, Arlett, we need you with us."

"I know."

The four of them stood in the ring, seething at the footage that was next shown on the screen - Ziggler pinning Ambrose - and then laughed when it showed Bobbi slamming her leg against his face.

Ziggler had brought backup in RVD and Kofi Kingston staying ringside, intended to even out the disadvantage, but not really. They didn't think she was a big enough threat yet, dismissed her as just 'another diva'. _You're wrong_.

They spilled to the outside of the ring and the two sides entered a deep stare down, Bobbi, Roman and Seth on one side, RVD and Kingston on the other.

"Get him back in the ring!" Roman yelled at Ziggler.

And he did, but before he could climb in, Bobbi dashed forward and wrapped her hands around Dolph's ankle, yanked him off the apron in such a way that slammed his head against the mat.

It was all out then, Kingston pushing her away and yelling in her face, and Bobbi smiling and leaning backwards, throwing all her weight into a high kick that connected with his head. She'd stolen his finisher, used it on him, and before she even knew what had happened, Roman had pulled her out of the way and stopped the incoming hit from Van Dam. Seth jumped on Kingston, Ambrose had recovered and launched himself onto Dolph, and Roman was going hard at RVD. A little chaos was never a bad thing.

And suddenly it all stopped as quick as it started, Hunter storming out and demanding the match be restarted as a six man tag match. He turned around and went to leave but paused, looking over his shoulder and raising the mic one last time. "Try not to get involved, Bobbi."

Her face was suddenly enlarged on the screen as she sent a wink and a playful smile to the boss. "No promises."

So the match restarted, Seth and RVD one on one, then Dean and RVD. Seth was down on the apron and Bobbi walked over to him, hit where he was holding his chest and for good measure did it again. Though his glare was hard, he knew exactly what it meant - toughen up, princess.

She smiled as he got back up and tilted her head at the eyes boring into the side of her head. Kofi was standing on the other side of the ring and holding his head, and her smile became hard as she ran her tongue over the top row of her teeth. Patting Seth's leg, she locked her hands behind her back and started to slowly walk around the ring, shit eating grin on her lips.

He turned as her saw her coming and when he hopped down, she leant against the barricade. "How's your head going? Bit sore?"

"Get back to into your corner, Bobbi."

And maybe by antagonising him she didn't really help her team, because when he was tagged in, he was like a chihuahua that was let off the leash, but while he might've been a chihuahua, The Shield were fucking _hounds_ and put him down with a smooth finish.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **September 30th**

 **Biloxi, Mississippi**

The week had gone by quickly with a couple of house shows that were just repeats of what they'd already done on the tapings. The four hour plane flight had sent them down to Mississippi on Sunday afternoon and tomorrow morning a two hour car ride awaited for the entire roster.

She was sat with Bray in the common area where the team had set up catering, superstars milling around all over the place.

Bobbi looked at Brad Maddox as he talked to Punk on the screen, studied him closely. Her eyes were lit playfully and when Bray glanced over, he shook his head.

"Don't even think about it, Arlett."

She looked back over at him, put a heart on her chest and dropped her jaw. "Think about what?"

"I see that look in your eyes," he said, "I know exactly what that look means, Bobbi. You got that same look when you found out about Barrett, you got that same look last week at the pub, Bob, you can't really think about doing that to him."

Shrugging her shoulders, she turned back to the screen. "The sex would probably be good… he'd be boring though."

"Things I don't need to ever know," Bray murmured to himself, closing his eyes and throwing an arm across his face. But then he looked back over at her and frowned. "You get that look when you watch Ambrose, Bobbi. I don't even have to warn you to be careful, but I want to."

Her nostrils flared. "I don't look at him like that."

"Yeah, you do."

"I don't." She looked across the table at the man that was like an older brother to her. "I don't look at him like that because it's different. It's different, okay?"

But Bray shook his head, laid his arm flat as he leaned across the table. "Different because you're not pining after him? Bobbi, you and I both know that you don't need to use sex when you want to find who someone really is. You have this way of getting under people's skin, you certainly did it to me, you did it to Phil, and now you're under the skin of those three boys that they've put you with. Don't mess that up, yeah? Those boys will be good to you, they will be _loyal_ as long as you don't start playing your little mind games, because when push comes to shove and you make them desperate, you might not like what you find."

He was right. Of course he was right. Bobbi ducked her head, pulled her hands up to massage her temples. She had this habit of finding people, interesting people, and wanting to figure them out thread by thread, she liked the thrill of finding something new. She liked to know all of the person she was interested in, liked to find them intimately and liked to push their buttons. It wasn't like she meant to hurt them, it just usually ended up being the case that when the other man fell in love she left the next day. _Untouchable_. Dean's words rang in her head. Something like that, anyway.

"Yeah," she finally replied. "Yeah, okay."

Bray grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her into a one armed hug. "You know I love you, doll, but sometimes you just gotta tone it back a bit, yeah? Not everything has to have a game plan."

Pulling back, Bray dropped a kiss on top of her head and left to set up for his little segment later on.

Yet Bobbi stayed where the was, leaning on her elbows, processing what had just happened. She knew what she was doing. And it wasn't a game.

—

They were crouched in the time keepers area, waiting for Hunter and Stephanie to leave so they could swiftly and efficiently put down any anger that the Rhodes family was trying to fuel into a fight.

Bobbi's hair wasn't up, was instead curled a little at the ends to add more volume; Shannon had said that it would look better that way if she decided to whip her hair around like she usually did. And though most of her wrestling top couldn't be seen because of the vest, Stephanie had put her in a bright pink version of it to support breast cancer research. They'd discarded her red lips some while ago and instead opted to just go for a nude finish. But that was okay, Bobbi could stain her lips red when she was going out or doing interviews, so it wasn't a massive loss.

Dean was watching as the Rhodes family went to leave the ring and then with a simple signal from his hand, the four of them jumped into action, eliciting screams from the crowd in an attempt to warn the only one left in the ring.

But as Goldust turned around in an attempt to stop the incoming Shield, Roman ducked and dove into him in a spear that almost broke him in half. Bobbi ran, fell to her knees to slide out and stand in front of the shorter American dream, snatching the chair he'd produced out of his hands and telling him, "Old man, I wouldn't today."

His glare was strong but had nothing on Bobbi as she slid back into the ring and joined the assault on Cody Rhodes. And apparently he didn't appreciate the warning from Bobbi, because he'd rolled into the ring.

Pushing the other men off of the youngest Rhodes, she watched as they stomped on the hall of famer and this sick smile spread on her lips as Cody looked up. The colour drained from his face and Bobbi waited until he was standing, ran past him and planted a foot on the turnbuckle. She twisted midair and her shin ricocheted of the man's head. As she landed on her side, she pushed up onto her knees, flicked her hair out of her face.

Reigns pulled the other boys off Dusty, turned their attention back to a fallen Cody and continued the assault as Bobbi got to her feet. Ambrose and Rollins were quick to lift the younger Rhodes up onto Roman's shoulders. And they were quick to slam him back down on the mat in a triple power bomb.

Roman grabbed a fistful of Cody's crisp white shirt, yelled "you stay down!" and then shoved him back onto the mat.

Looking at Ambrose's triumphant smirk and the dimples that deepened when he chewed the gum in his mouth, Bobbi grabbed the back of his head and slapped a hand off his chest, face elated at the destruction they'd just caused.

Together, they joined their fists over Dusty Rhodes' body.

—

" _The Shield set for six-man tag team action here._ "

Ziggler and Ambrose locked up, Dean pushing him into the corner to unload a couple of punches. Bobbi moved from her spot on the barricade, walked around to the side of the ring to perch herself on the steel steps.

Chaos quickly ensued as the six men crowded the ring. Roman was thrown out by Ziggler who followed him right over, Seth and Dean were tossed out almost instantaneously. Bobbi snarled and propelled herself off of the steps, pushing the closest man to her out of the way of a flying Uso. Dean stared at her with wide eyes and then looked to Jimmy Uso who was clutching his knee. He offered a hand to help her up and then pulled Seth to his feet. Together they rolled the hurt Uso back into the ring and right into a painful clothesline from Reigns.

Back on her barricade, Bobbi watched the rest of the match take place. The win was flawless and Bobbi slid into the ring with the boys' championship belts, launched herself at Roman's back in a hug. He laughed at her display of happiness, told her to get off and stop looking like such a girl.

She sent Dean a wink at that, wrapped her arm around his waist. They walked off to the side of the ramp, bickering as the cameras closed in on their happy faces.

* * *

 **hey guys! back for another update, hope you enjoyed it! thank you to sarah-bellona-hiddlestoner/Drapex437 for my review, it really means the world to me and the reason this update has come so quick :) the more comments the faster i update people, so please give some feedback, only takes two seconds to write a quick comment :) RIP, Dusty.**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **October 1st**

 **Baton Rouge, Louisiana**

" _Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta; The Shield_."

Bobbi and the rest of The Shield stood in the centre of the ring, waited for Randy to join them, waited for Big Show to come out to start the 4-on-1 handicap match.

As the big man waddled down to the ring, the men surrounding her moved backwards. Bobbi didn't. Show climbed into the ring, stared at the woman that showed no fear of him, and walked right up to her. The stare down was again intense, but then Bobbi smirked and stepped to the side, let him through.

"Stop being stupid," Seth said as he pushed her backwards. "We don't need you injured again."

Dean started in the ring, dodging and weaving until he was pushed into the far turnbuckle. Show ripped his top up, exposing the smooth, tanned skin, slapped his palm onto the bare flesh.

Leaning on the apron, Bobbi followed the sight of Dean's waist. She bit her lip, reminded herself what Bray had said to her and ripped her eyes away, instead staring at Ambrose's face as he was body slammed back down onto the mat. He made a quick tag and the woman wrapped her hands around his arm, pulled him out of the ring, smoothed his top back down over his stomach.

"You right there?" He asked her, face contorted in pain. He hadn't missed the lingering touch of her fingers against his skin.

"Dandy," she answered. "Go finish it off."

When they turned back around, Seth was in the process of being crushed by the four hundred and fifty pound giant. He scurried back to the corner, tagged in Randy Orton.

Soon, the giant was down on his knees, Rollins connected with a knee to the jaw, multiple boots to the face. Bobbi stayed where she was against the barricade, watched the men try to keep the giant off his feet. He hit Reigns with a spear and the ring was engulfed in chaos.

So she ran around the squared circle, shoved a chair into Dean's hands as he fell out, pushed him back in only to have the Big Show's fist drive the steel into Ambrose's head. The official motioned to ring the bell in a disqualification as Seth climbed to the top turnbuckle. He jumped off, planning to inflict some damage when Show caught him by the throat.

Orton grabbed the chair that Dean had dropped, slammed it against the Big Show's back - only for it to have no effect at all. He hadn't swung hard enough. Fingers wrapped around his neck then, intending to lift both superstars up into the air and perform a double choke-slam.

It was then that Bobbi slipped into the ring, grabbed the chair out of Randy's hands, drilled the Big Show across the back now that his hands were full. Show stumbled forward and right into a spear by Roman.

Seth sputtered as he got breath back into his lungs, walked across to her pointing at his neck. "This bruised?"

Shaking her head, she looked at him with amusement. _Typical_. She slipped out of the ring as Randy delivered an RKO, crouched above Dean's body.

"You good?"

He looked across at her with eyes that didn't belong to his gimmick and she was thrown, had no idea how to react, kept him down as the Uso's ran from the back to even the numbers. They took Seth and Roman out of the equation, and then with a loud scream from the collective audience, Daniel Bryan was out.

Dean brought her attention back to him as he shifted into a crouching position. "We need to talk."

And then he was off, stopping Daniel Bryan from using the 'yes' lock on Randy and ultimately getting a knee to the face to close off the night.

—

Trying to avoid being alone with Dean for four days wouldn't have ever worked. They travelled together, roomed together (it had become official now, the two worked in sync and Seth and Ro were happy to have some kind of fixed schedule in their life). If Bobbi wanted to avoid the conversation then she'd have to actually leave the company.

So she braced herself, threw a couple of guarded walls up. Even if he surprised her with a question or a comment, she wouldn't let herself show emotion, she'd think about her answer, try and come off flippantly, like it was obvious. And okay, maybe she was overthinking it.

 _"We need to talk."_

What kind of foreboding prick would say that and then run off? Bobbi threw her head back and sighed aloud in the women's locker room as she shoved the last of her gear into the duffle bag.

"What's got you so pent up?"

Bobbi turned around at the voice, smiled at Brie. She'd thought that she'd been alone, but of course the woman was still here, she'd be waiting for her fiancé to finish packing up.

"Just…" Bobbi trailed off and dropped her eyes, considered her answer. The lie came easily. "I dunno, I'm kinda missing home."

Brie smiled in understanding and walked over to stand next to the other woman. "I know _exactly_ what you mean, Bobbi." She gave the older woman a once over, then smiled gently. "I know you're never around long enough with us girls to get to know us, but if you ever need to talk or anything, we're all here. Most of us are really nice."

Bobbi laughed along with Brie. It was true, that she hadn't become friends with any of the Divas, but she simply hadn't bothered to take the time to stop and chat.

When she walked out, Dean was leaning against the wall with a cap pulled down over his fluffy hair and eyes shut. She could walk right past him, dodge the whole conversation. Or she'd answer whatever he had to say.

In the end she didn't get the time to make her decision, because his eyes had opened and had fixed her with a look that sent chills right to her bones.

"Hey," he said, "ready to go?"

She smiled at him. "Waiting out here for lil' old me? How gentlemanly of you."

He rolled his eyes at her sarcasm, threw her duffle over the top of his suitcase. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

They walked in silence, the anxiety finally getting to Bobbi as she playfully said "We need to talk. Apparently. According to you."

Dean's face lit up as he turned to stare at her. "Yeah, what's the deal with you starin' at me out there like I'm a Goddamned stripper?"

And she certainly wasn't expecting _that_. "I did not!"

"Don't lie to me, Arlett, have you been reading those stupid stories that Roman likes to show off?"

Bobbi choked back her laughter, looking at him like he was insane. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Chicks _dig_ the army getup," his voice was full of confidence as he continued to baffle Bobbi, "they get a bit carried away, like to, y'know, spice things up a bit. Throw some shade."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

Dean was almost in the middle of having a conniption. And Bobbi was still confused as all hell. "What do you mean 'what does that have to do with anything'? Bob, Ro found a story of me as a stripper! And you were lookin' at me out there like I was about to take my shirt off and start dancin'!"

And this time, Bobbi did lose it. She keeled over, holding her stomach as she howled in laughter, and next to her Dean was scowling and muttering under his breath. Dean as a stripper? _Yes, please._ Why hadn't she thought of that earlier?

"I swear, if he showed that to you…"

"Oh, my God, Dean, shut up," Bobbi laughed, "I have _not_ read the story… but now I'm kinda interested."

"Don't you dare."

She laughed louder. "I don't care, I'm finding this thing and reading it."

He huffed in frustration and quickened his pace, but Bobbi was still behind him and almost skipping in delight. When they found Roman and Seth at the car, Dean threw the bags in the trunk and slammed it shut, climbed into the passenger seat without even talking to his two friends.

"So, Ro," Bobbi started, shit eating grin on her face as she stared up at the Samoan man. "I believe you have a stripper story to show me.

(Dean ignored her for the rest of the night, but Bobbi was too busy crying in laughter to even care.)

 **RAW Live, night after Battleground 2013**

 **October 7th**

 **Pittsburg, Pennsylvania**

Bobbi was in the middle of her warm up, the show set to start in thirty minutes. She'd yet to lock her vest into place, instead let her mind slip to the events of the pay-per-view last night.

 _"Bobbi, if I could have a word," Brad Maddox spoke. He wrung his hands together as Bobbi pushed away from her Shield brethren, looked down as all four pairs of eyes stared at him in contempt. "Look, I know you want to go out there and support your team, but I could really use some backup should anything go wrong tonight."_

 _A disbelieving smile began to form on her face as the corners of her lips turned up. "You want me to be a security detail?"_

 _He nodded at her._

 _"Right."_

 _Roman put a hand on her shoulder, coming around to look her in the eye. "We got tonight, Bob. If this man wants to hide behind you, then let him."_

 _She shrugged at his words. "Yeah, whatever."_

And they'd lost. Cody Rhodes, who had been fired in the events leading up to the pay-per-view, and his father Dusty, had been reinstated, Goldust offered a job. Her boys had lost to a 'dashing' man and his weird, estranged brother. They weren't in a great mood, to put it lightly.

The only appearance she had tonight was for the main event, once again accompanying The Shield to the ring, so she settled herself down in front of a broadcasting TV with Dean on one side and Roman on the other.

Tonight was the night that the Big Show was getting fired, and Bobbi's eyes were glued to the screen as Stephanie and him entered a battle of wills.

"Shut up!" She screamed at him. "I understand you've been under a lot of _pressure_ lately, both at home and at work, and when you're under pressure you make some pretty bad decisions, but last night was _completely_ inexcusable. You knocked out officials, you knocked out db and you knocked out randy orton… What do you have to say for yourself?"

He shrugged half assed, lifted the microphone to his mouth. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry," Stephanie mimicked after a pause. "You can't even say _that_ with any conviction, can you? You're damn right you're _sorry;_ you're a sorry, pathetic excuse of life. My husband has bailed you out more times than I can remember. We've saved you from bankruptcy, we _bought your mortgage._ I mean Big Show, no _wonder_ you're broke - you can't manage your finances, you can't manage your career, certainly you can't even manage _yourself_.

"And all we've asked you to do is be professional, just do your job, but you can't even do that, can you? It's time you man up and take responsibility for your actions."

"Man up?" He looked down at her and nodded his head. "Okay. Can I go now?"

"No, you can't go now," Stephanie mocked, poking his chest to punctuate every word. She looked _mad_. "Let me tell you something, let me put this to you really _clearly_. We don't just own your home, we own _you_. You don't have the right to free will, do you understand? You don't have the right to anything in this company lest my husband or I _personally_ approve it.

"Now it's time that you not only ask, but you _beg_ these people for forgiveness. Get down on your knees and _beg_."

He shook his head no, wave of cockiness rolling off of him.

"You can't even do that, can you? You're worthless, you have no heart, you know what, Show? You don't have a soul."

He laughed at her. "You want me to apologise?"

"No, I want you to beg."

"You want me to beg?"

" _Beg_."

"I'm not begging! I knocked out Randy Orton because I just couldn't _take_ it anymore!" He thundered. "And I knocked out Daniel Bryan because you told me to."

"Typical," Stephanie shook her head, not perturbed in the least by the big man's words. "Trying to twist this around! My husband and I weren't even here last night, Brad Maddox-"

"Brad Maddox, Brad Maddox - we all know that Brad Maddox is your _puppet_!" Show exploded. But his words became quieter, more cocky. "He works for you and your _son of a bitch_ husband."

She took a deep breath, composed herself. And then slammed her palm across his cheek. "What are you gonna do about it, Show?" And then she hit him again. "What are you gonna do about it, you gonna cry?" She hit him again. "You're gonna cry like a baby?!" She drove her palm across his face three more times. "Is that what you're gonna do? I'll tell you what you're gonna do, you're gonna do _nothing_! Because _you're fired_!"

—

It was supposed to be a simple three-on-three tag team main event, Triple H sitting ringside and Bobbi keeping her cool while the boss man stalked the premises. Or really, sat on a pretty looking chair.

And it all fell apart when Seth Rollins was taken down into the 'yes' lock. Bobbi moved to dash forward, but Hunter's arm flew out against her stomach. With a pointed look, he shook his head, then turned to watch as Dean jammed a chair into Cody Rhodes' stomach.

The official rung the bell and Hunter looked mildly displeased, but smirked like it had been a part of his plan all along for her boys to get disqualified. So she stared at him from her spot with her eyes narrowed. And when he restarted the match into a no disqualification one, he gave Bobbi a short nod of his head. _Now_ she had his permission to go create chaos. _Now_ she could launch herself in with her boys.

She went down into a squat, scouted out an opportunity to fling herself into the offensive.

Her problem wasn't with Daniel Bryan. Her problem, she decided, was with the Rhodes brothers.

With Cody going straight after Dean, Bobbi ran at the barricade and yelled at Ambrose to move. She planted her foot on the top of the padding, pushed off and landed her shin across the side of the dashing man's head, rolling to a stop on the floor.

Dean smiled at her and held out his arm so she could whack hers against it.

They ran over to Reigns, threw punches and kicks at Goldust who was bent over the commentary table in pain. The crowd was screaming and as Bobbi looked over her shoulder, Daniel Bryan was bouncing off the far ropes to get the momentum to propel himself onto them.

She pushed against Reigns, ducked. And as Bryan came flying out of the top rope, Roman hit his hand loudly against the superstar's jaw, watched him fall like a sack onto the floor.

Truth was, The Shield _thrived_ off of chaos. And Bobbi only helped even out the odds in their favour.

Threading a hand under Daniel's arm, Bobbi pushed him into the barricade where the viper was suddenly coiled and ready to strike. Randy Orton struck the other man with an RKO, rolled him into the ring, smiled as Rollins made the cover for the three count.

And then when the rest of The Shield entered the ring, cleared house, Big Show emerged on the ramp.

Hunter retreated, hid behind The Shield members. Dean pushed her back, held an arm out against her heaving chest as she stared at the large man who had climbed up onto the apron.

Show was _ready_. His smirk mirrored one of Bobbi's and it was like roles were reversed because her gaze mirrored one of his glares. He was looking for a fight and he was going to get it, and that was because of what Bobbi and the rest of The Shield had done to him over the past two months.

The aggravation, the taunting, the chair shots, the power bombs, the drop kicks - all of it leading up to this very point in time, all of it leading up to The Shield being absolutely _decimated_ by one man.

She looked into his eyes and she _knew_ she was going to pay for what she'd done.

While Hunter grabbed her arm, stopped her from going to her death, the hounds were let loose. All three of them, Dean, Seth, Roman; _all_ of them went on the attack, trying to push Show into the corner. All of them received a crashing head butt. All of them fell to the mat.

He had a clear line of site to Bobbi and Triple H and he was smiling like it was the only thing he could have ever wanted in that moment.

But then Seth ran in, threw an arm into the back of Show's leg to knock him off his feet. He fell fast and he fell hard, and Hunter was ripping his tie and his jacket off and Bobbi walked forward, yelled at him to stay down, yelled at him to never get back up, yelled at her boys to put him down with another triple power-bomb.

And suddenly he was right back up, The Shield thrown to the side like plastic mannequins. And Bobbi stood face to face with the man who was going to _enjoy_ getting his revenge.

"When you fight with the men and you fight _like_ a man," he screamed loud enough for the cameras to hear, "You get _taken down like the rest of us!_ "

His hand gripped the length of her throat and he flung her arm over his shoulder and the crowd went _nuts_ as Bobbi was choke-slammed to the mat with _no_ hesitation.

Arms and legs spread wide, Bobbi looked the part of a murder scene. She came to with a loud breath, tried to stop the buzzing in her ears until she realised it was the screams of the crowd.

Her chest fluttered up and down in a couple of coughs and she raised her hand to her throat, swept some of the silver hair out of her face. She stayed still long enough to hear the knock out punch delivered to Triple H. And then rolled out of the ring, fell onto hands and knees and collapsed back into the soft padding.

Well, _fuck_ , did that knock the wind out of her.

—

"Holy shit," she breathed as she got backstage, "holy fucking shit."

It had been _amazing_.

Bobbi let out an ecstatic breathy laugh and fell onto Dean's back. "That was…"

"Incredible!" Seth finished. He was all smiles and glowed with happiness and Bobbi felt like whatever had happened out there had affected all of the superstars involved.

The high after coming off a show with the crowd as electric as that one was unmatchable. Like the chemistry between the wrestlers had infected the crowd and then they had pushed back ten times harder.

"Holy shit." Bobbi said again.

When Cody Rhodes came through the curtained tunnel, he smiled sincerely her. "You delivered that kick so well out there, Arlett, I taught you well."

She wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug and then fell back against Dean's stability.

"Nice job, guys," Vince McMahon said as he rounded the corner. His eyes were wide and he shook everyone's hand, raising his eyebrow at the lone female. "You sold that choke-slam like a veteran."

Bobbi laughed at him and dragged a hand down over her face. "Oh, my God. That was insane. I can't believe this is my job."

And Seth ducked forward and wrapped his arms around Bobbi's waist lifting her up and down as he mockingly yelled in anger - or maybe happiness, because Bobbi was too pumped on adrenalin to really care. "Believe in that!" Was his mocking jab and, really, she wasn't even bothered by the horrible pun.

He popped her back down as the people in the room slowly receded and she shoved her shaking hands in front of Dean's body. "Look at this shit," she laughed, "Fucking adrenalin makes me shake like I've got fucking Alzheimer's."

While Bobbi had expected some sort of response, what she didn't expect was Dean taking her hands in his and holding them still. Because, _what_?

"Easy solve, darlin'," he wriggled his eyebrows at her.

Stuttering out a laugh, she let her hands be dropped.

They walked back to the room together and Dean shot her a quizzical look. "You heading back home again tomorrow?"

She nodded her head yes. Because when she _hadn't_ been scheduled on the SmackDown taping tomorrow night, she'd asked Steph for some time to head back to Tampa and pack up some of her things. Her mother was getting too old and couldn't afford to live by herself in a two story house, so Bobbi had decided that the best answer was to sell her apartment and move back to Winthrop Harbour.

"Yeah," she answered him, "Gotta pack up the rest of my stuff in Tampa and ship it off, wasn't on the taping tomorrow night so figured why not take off a day early."

Dean nodded his understanding and sat down as she grabbed some clothes out, and in a daring display of indifference, Bobbi changed right in front of him. _Okay_ , maybe, _maybe_ she had planned on doing it, but it wasn't like he was unaccustomed to it, they _did_ room together.

Pulling on some spunky colourful slacks and a fitted plain t-shirt, Bobbi looked up at the superstar. "You thinking of coming to help me out?"

He snorted. "You wish."

* * *

 **hellooooo! so ive decided to cut back on chapter size, like i was uploading chapters between 5500 words and 6900 words, and honestly i feel like my chapters are getting** ** _too_** **long, so maybe separating them into like 3500 will make it go faster for you :)**

 **i would like to say a HUGE thankyou to** ** _MissJessy_** **for the review, and I encourage reviews, even if it is just to tell me 'its okay', bc you're okay too and it's important to know! hope you enjoyed the chapter :***


	7. Chapter 7

**RAW Live**

 **October 14th**

 **Saint Louis, Missouri**

Bobbi was a lot like Tamina in many ways. She was just an inch shorter than her, had similar pace and strength, but while Tamina was built with strong muscle, Bobbi was _lean_.

A background in boxing had shaped her figure, yet her figure wasn't made for boxing. Her waist was small, hips flaring out to match the width of her shoulders; her hourglass figure wasn't soft or particularly curvaceous, but it was definitely noticeable. Her breasts were proportionate to the shape of her butt. And really, she was lucky that she had a good figure, but it got her in trouble more times than it helped her.

Which is why Stephanie had stuck her with a vest that didn't hug her torso. _Thank you_.

Roman and Seth were set to defend their titles tonight against the Rhodes brothers and Bobbi was excited, like a dog that was waiting to be let off the leash at a ball park.

"Can you settle? You're making me nervous," Phil chided her as they sat in the common area. He threw his leg over her bouncing one and sent her a glare. " _Stop_."

She stuck her tongue out at him and continued bouncing anyway just because she could.

"Anyway, how'd the move go?"

Bobbi looked up at him and shrugged, then shovelled a cookie into her mouth. "Okay. Like any move, honestly. Mom was up all night Wednesday trying to sort everything out, drove me down to the airport on Friday morning so I could get into Missouri on time."

"She going good?"

"Yeah," Bobbi smiled, "she's not used to being on her own ever since Craig moved to Cinci, so she's happy to have a least one child back in her life, y'know?"

Phil nodded at her and bid good bye, pushing himself off the couch to get ready for his bit for the night.

Left alone to her own devices, Bobbi walked across the hall to make-up people, smiling at Shannon and getting ready for the match. She hadn't pulled her vest on yet and was brandishing the pink spandex crop top with pride because _fuck_ breast cancer. With her hair now high up in a slicked back pony tail and lips dabbed in matte neutral lipstick, Bobbi found herself walking back to the boys' locker room.

"We're on in twenty," she called to them with a smile.

Dean was in the middle of his pre-show warm up, push ups and burpees and high knees like crazy, while Seth and Ro were talking about the technicality and the moves behind the match.

When Seth looked up at her, he openly gawked. "When the fuck did you stop wearing your vest?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm putting it back on, Hawkeye, relax."

Roman laughed at the jeer, leant forward to slap Seth on the shoulder and stood to his full height, stretching his arms up above his head. "Come on then, let's go."

—

" _Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta; The Shield._ "

Vest securely in place, Bobbi lead the way through the crowd, slapping hands out of the way and glaring at the people who tried to touch her.

The tag title bout was set to be no disqualification, which meant that the Rhodes' were outnumbered and thus vulnerable. When they reached the ring, Bobbi launched over the barricade and stalked around the squared circle, sending a little wink to Cody.

Seth and Cody started things off, the Rhodes' taking early control and isolating The Shield member, and Roman was looking _agitated_.

Interjecting himself into the match up, Dean grabbed Cody's leg as he pushed off the ropes. Bobbi laughed as the youngest man in the ring was then clotheslined by Roman, hitting the side of her arm against Dean's. Roman was tagged in shortly after and Bobbi walked around to the side of the announcers table, grabbed a steel chair.

The commentators were watching her closely as she walked around the other side of the ring, slapped open the chair and sat down to stare up at Goldust in an attempt to unnerve him. It worked, kind of, but Goldust was as weird as they came.

Rhodes made the jump to tag him in but Bobbi quickly jumped forward, grabbed the bottom of Goldust's leg and pulled him from the apron just in time. The bizarre one looked at her then was in her face, eyes wide, arms up. He blew into her face and Bobbi almost gagged at the rancid smell and stumbled back, eyes watering as she watching him tag in and dominate Seth.

She slammed the chair shut and held a hand over her nose, stalking back around to Dean who looked at her in amusement. "That's so gross," she mumbled lowly.

"I'd give you my gum, but…" Dean trailed off as Seth was pinned for a two count, then shrugged his shoulders at her.

Momentum swung both ways, a match that teetered on the edge, split so evenly down the middle that Bobbi had no idea what to do.

One thing that Bobbi _did_ know was the talent Seth and Roman had to sus out the situation, to smell when to tag in, to figure out when to get into the ring after they'd been tagged as the legal man.

Little moments, like when Seth mocked Goldust and then jumped right into a power-slam, like when she'd pulled Cody off the apron in a cheap shot, like when Goldust had hit Roman in the head with his elbow; these moments would lead to all-out chaos.

Rhodes was dominating Reigns in the ring, and when Ambrose went up for a distraction, he was sent crashing back to the mat from a Disaster Kick. Bobbi crept up behind him as he lent on the turnbuckles, slapped him on the shoulder, waited until he turned around before she grabbed the side of his head, jumped off and brought his neck down on the top rope in a vicious hangman.

He stumbled right back into an elbow, bounced forward onto his head.

Goldust stumbled back into the ring, was thrown out by Rollins and Ambrose as they ambushed him either side, and soon enough the beat-down on the youngest Rhodes began, Bobbi taking the time to slip out and repetitively drive her fist into the side of the bizarre man's head.

When she looked back up into the ring, Cody Rhodes was on Roman's shoulders. Bobbi laughed as the wrestler hit the mat thunderously, the triple power bomb knocking the wind out of him.

But he wasn't the legal man. Looking down, Bobbi saw no sign of the man she was viciously attacking. Looking up, she saw him slide into the ring and nail Roman in the back with a chair.

The events both inside and outside the ring slowly descended into disorder.

Seth saved himself from a Disaster Kick and power-bombed Rhodes into the padded barricades, Roman was going at it with Goldust, and Dean was laying on the ground in pain. Goldust landed Reigns into an Atomic Drop, did the same to Rollins as he jumped off the top turnbuckle, and then everyone was outside the ring.

Bobbi ran over to the chair she'd discarded, stalked with purpose back across to Goldust and brought it down on his back. He arched in pain, stumbled backwards.

His eyes widened as Roman ran at him and then the latter dived, hit Goldust with a spear that sent them both through the barricades that Bobbi loved to sit on. And _f_ _uck_ , that would've hurt. Bobbi winced in sympathy and walked over to Seth, crouched at his side as Ambrose tried to set up the ring so that Reigns could make the win.

And then the crowd went _nuts_. She stayed hidden with her chair as Seth quickly ran to the ring, as Ambrose picked up his own steel chair, and then she watched with horror as the Big Show climbed over the barricade.

Ambrose ran at him with the chair but a knock out blow hitting it had the steel bouncing off his head and his eyes rolling back, body falling to the floor.

He caught Seth's attempt at an ambush and slammed his fist across the two-toned man's face.

Two down. Two to go.

Roman looked at him in absolute dismay. And Bobbi grabbed the chair tightly, watched Rhodes get back to his feet, attempt a Disaster Kick; watched Roman duck - right into another mean right hook.

The referee was on the mat then, began the three count.

In a moment of pure insanity, Bobbi slid into the ring and brought her foot down on Cody's head in a curb stomp, interrupting the cover. The Big Show didn't have time to process what had happened until Bobbi had reversed the cover, laid Ro's large and heavy body on top of Rhodes.

And then she made a sacrifice. She dashed forward as Show slipped into the ring, fist hitting the left side of her cheek, silver and black hair spraying wide as she fell limply to the mat.

But the referee had made the three count. And her boys were still the champions.

—

Bobbi was sound asleep on Saturday morning, barely recovering after a gruelling house show, when her phone started buzzing next to her head.

She groaned, rolled onto her back as she brought the bright screen up to her face - and then groaned again. _Really?_

"Hello?"

There was an excited squeal down the line as a young voice said "Hey Aunty Bob!"

"Hey, munchkin," she laughed back. She glanced over her shoulder at a snoring Dean and then quietly shifted from the bed. "What are you doing awake so early?"

"Momma said we could come see you since you were in Louisville tonight!" Her niece, Vanessa, was just five years old, a little pocket rocket that got her way more often than not. And she _loved_ Bobbi.

"Did she just?" Bobbi laughed and slinked out into the hallway, wearing nothing more than her pyjamas. "Well you tell your mom that she's paying for you to see a mean old lady, okay? I'm not very nice at the moment!"

Vanessa laughed and snorted. "You're always nice, Aunty Bob! Don't be silly!"

"Me? Silly?" The young girl laughed again at Bobbi's sarcasm, and the older woman couldn't help but let a smile crawl onto her face - the girl's good mood was infectious. "Your mom there?"

"Yeah!"

A shuffle sounded and a moan and Bobbi realised that the young girl was probably too excited to sleep, had woken her mom up in an attempt to contact her favourite aunty. "Bob?"

"Hey, Heather," Bobbi laughed. "She wake you up as well?"

"You don't even know the half of it," Heather drawled. "She's been like this since I got the tickets last weekend."

Bobbi closed her eyes and imagined the small girl in her mind, long curly red hair and bright blue eyes. "Yeah, that's not hard to picture."

"How'd you manage to pay for them?" Bobbi asked quietly, knowing that it might hit a nerve if she'd asked the wrong way. "I mean, last time I saw you guys, you were living off of one income…"

"I met a guy," Heather mumbled - almost gushed, but not quite. "A while ago, actually. He's helped out a lot around the place, looks after Ness when she gets too much for me. He's good. It's good. It works."

Though Bobbi knew that Heather would never forgive her brother for what he did, the two were still close friends. And Bobbi had promised Heather that she would always be there for the young girl that carried her blood-line, even if her brother wasn't. He wasn't capable of being a father. Not yet, anyway.

"You know, I could always take her off your hands for the night. You could have a quiet night in, not worry about her… I'll drop her back when the show's done, she'll be out like a light, it'll be fine."

Heather hummed. "You know what? I might just take you up on that offer. You should come around as soon as you can, you know what Ness is like…"

"Sure," Bobbi agreed. "And I can also meet your new…"

"Boyfriend," Heather picked up on the pause and laughed, "boyfriend. His name's Marcus, you'll like him."

So Bobbi bid goodbye to Heather, threw a bra on under her top and pulled some jeans on. The khaki green timberlands were easy to slip on and then she tossed her hair up into a top-knot, not even bothering with make-up.

Rapping on Seth and Roman's doors, she kept at it until she heard the groans. Eventually, the door swung open and a disgruntled Seth was staring at her.

"It's six AM, what the hell do you want?"

She laughed at him and pushed into the room, grabbing the keys off the bench. "You should go workout now that you're… awake…"

When she looked back at Seth, he was slumped on the bed and snoring. Typical. And Roman hadn't even moved, mouth open and arms spread wide on the single bed. He barely fit, and it was so amusing that Bobbi snapped a quick picture of it.

It took close to forty minutes to drive from the hotel to the small apartment Heather owned on the outskirts of the city. It was nothing fancy, just a stock-standard two room place. But Heather said it was comfortable, that she didn't want any more, and Bobbi didn't have a hard time believing her - her old apartment was just as small, not really needing room or a lot of space since she was never there.

And on the way, Bobbi made sure to called Stephanie, new the woman would be awake, and secured a backstage pass for the young wrestling fan. Stephanie was… amused, Bobbi figured, at the way that Vanessa was described, and told the woman that she had no problem with the little one being around for the house show that night.

She didn't even have to knock on the door, because Vanessa was out like a little orange bullet and launching herself into Bobbi. She was squealing, grabbing onto anything she could, and clawed her way up to Bobbi's shoulders, setting herself on her hip.

"Missed you," she mumbled into her aunty's shoulder, and Bobbi bit back a grin.

"Missed you too, Ness."

A figure in the doorway appeared and Bobbi looked up to meet the eyes of Heather. The resemblance of Heather in Vanessa was almost identical, and if it hadn't have been for the striking blue eyes, Bobbi would never have thought that Vanessa was her brother's kid.

"Heather," Bobbi greeted as she approached, pulling the shorter woman into a one armed hug. "good to see you again."

After meeting Marcus, a rather stout man with no muscle bulk yet adorably cute, Bobbi popped Ness in the backseat of the rental and took one last look at her old friend.

"I'll have her back around eleven - she should be out cold by then, I hope, but if one of you could be awake to get her out of the car, that would be amazing."

Heather nodded. "Yeah, I'll still be up. Gotta finish off an art project, anyway, so it'll be good motivation."

And then she and her niece were on the open road, cranking the radio tunes and signing their hearts out to the songs they new and even the ones they didn't, windows down and everything. Ness's ringlet hair would be super messy when she got home, but Bobbi decided that wasn't really her issue.

—

"You had breakfast yet, Ness?"

The young girl shook her head and clutched tighter onto Bobbi's shirt as they entered the hotel buffet. Bobbi was starving and needed food if she wanted to even survive the next fifteen hours, let alone survive with an almost hyperactive five-year-old glued to her hip.

"What do you think?" She asked again, pointing at the selection of food. "Pancakes, waffles, bacon? What about fruit?"

The young girl turned to Bobbi with a mischievous glint in her eye, saying "All of it!" and launching into giggles.

"All of it, then…"

When they sat down at one of the tables, the two plates were _full_ with an assortment of delicious breakfast foods - mostly horrible breakfast foods, but Bobbi was hungry and didn't even care. She sliced into the delicious looking pancakes, grabbed a spoonful of berries, fed herself while the young girl looked around, almost in amazement, almost in awe - she'd probably never been to a place like this.

With high ceilings and a grand staircase to the side, hotel hands dressed in a mustard yellow and the chefs in stark white suits, Vanessa looked out of place. The young girl had her Dora the Explora backpack with a change of clothes and she was in a ratty looking jacket and some ripped leggings.

It wasn't that Heather was broke. She was close to it, she admitted as much, but she had enough money to put food on their plates and a house over their head and she said that was all that mattered.

The young girl had books, had lots and lots of basic knowledge, but no school education. And maybe that was because Bobbi's brother didn't know that Vanessa existed, didn't pay child support like he would have had to if he knew.

"I don't need his help," Heather had told her, "He will not be the father of my child, he doesn't deserve it."

"You're not even going to tell him?"

She'd looked at her ex-boyfriend's sister evenly. "I know that you're his sister, and that you think this may be the wrong choice, but after what he did to me he doesn't deserve me or my child. And maybe once you have a kid of your own you'll understand, but I just can't. I'd rather Ness hate me than have to go through what I went through, and that's my choice. Not yours. I don't want your pity, either, or your pity money. I'll do this by myself."

Bobbi had left it after that. Because Heather was right - she'd only understand once she had a child of her own.

The young girl clutched her juice box a bit tighter as she looked over Bobbi's shoulder. She twisted her head, looked into the foyer, and saw a couple of the Diva's who loved to get up early and go shopping.

Looking back at Ness, Bobbi wriggled her eyebrows. "Wanna go say hi?"

And Vanessa became the sun, happiness and brightness radiating off of her like it was Christmas day.

She watched as the girl ran over to Layla and Summer Rae, smile wide and arms clasped behind her back. Two sets of eyes were on her then as the young girl pointed her way, and Bobbi didn't even have time to finish her mouthful before the women were walking, Vanessa's hands in one of theirs.

"She's beautiful, Bobbi!" Layla crooned as she ran a hand through the messy orange hair. "Your niece?"

"Yeah," Bobbi replied with a tight smile. Vanessa didn't even know which side Bobbi's lineage was a part of, and she wasn't about to reveal it - so she moved on quickly to the next topic of conversation. "She's a hug fan of wrestling, watches it all the time."

"Really?" Summer Rae ducked down and smiled brightly at the young girl. "Can I teach you how to dance?"

Vanessa smiled brightly, tried to mimic the way that Summer shimmied her hips.

"You enjoying being up on the main roster?"

"Yeah," Bobbi answered the English woman, "It's been pretty crazy with all the travel and everything, but you make it work."

"And how are the boys treating you?" She asked, wriggling her eyebrows as she scooted into the seat. "Any of them fallen in love yet?"

Bobbi laughed without humour. "The boys are too busy measuring up to try and play catch, y'know?"

"Aunty Bob, Summer wants to take me shopping!" Vanessa was grabbing her legs, smiling up at her toothily, eyes wide with anticipation.

—

In the end, Ness ended up with two new shirts and a new pair of leggings - everything else she didn't like.

They were back in the room at eight thirty and Bobbi was exhausted, pulled the young girl onto the bed with her.

"Who's he?" Vanessa giggled. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Bobbi snorted. "Not even close, little one."

"He smells good…"

"Too old for you, you hear me?"

Vanessa giggled and curled up into a tighter ball. "Do we really have to take a nap?"

"I might die if we don't, Ness."

"Okay, okay."

When Bobbi woke, Vanessa was still sleeping against her stomach. Dean was gone from the bed but the room wasn't empty - in fact, all of The Shield members were sitting in front of the small TV and trying to stay as quiet as possible.

Seth caught her eyes and offered a smile, then frowned and nodded his head at the lump next to her. "What's that thing under the covers…?"

She rolled her eyes, gently shifted over the sleeping girl until she could move the blankets under her chin.

"You realise you suddenly grew a child?"

"Thanks, Ro, I didn't realise at all."

Roman sent her a wink, then turned back to the television. Playoffs were underway and each boy had their separate team that they kinda-sorta supported, but it was still sport and they loved anything that was high contact and brutal.

"Okay, last time I checked you weren't pregnant and didn't have a significant other or even have a kid," Dean pointed out as Vanessa shifted on the bed. Bobbi laughed at him, dragged a hand down her face.

"Not my kid, Ambrose. My niece."

He shot her a look. "Your brother is a dad?"

"My piece of shit brother has a child, doesn't make him her dad. It's complicated," Bobbi shrugged off. "She doesn't really know."

She plonked herself next to him on the bed as he crawled up and propped her arm up on her knee, avoiding his gaze.

"She doesn't know who her dad is?"

"Not my choice," Bobbi defended. "Can't really blame Heather, either."

"One of these days you'll tell us the whole thing," Roman added. He turned and looked over his shoulder at the woman. "If I didn't know that I had a daughter, I don't think I'd be the man I am. It changes a person."

Under pressure, Bobbi didn't want to reveal anything. "Yeah, well. Again, not my choice."

Though they were talking in hushed voices, it was dangerous. Vanessa could be awake and listening. So, Bobbi changed the subject. "Her mom's an art nut, does the most realistic and colourful portraits of people. She'd do you well, Seth, blonde streak an all."

"You leave my hair outta this, you hear me?"

Almost an hour into one of the films Colby had chucked on, the little girl started fidgeting. Bobbi looked over at her with tenderness and leaned back into Dean's body.

Quietly, so no one else could hear him, Dean murmured "You'll be a great mom one day, Bob."

And never had he been so wrong about her. She shook her head, dropped her eyes. Left it.

Until little Vanessa decided that she wasn't happy on her own. Her eyes slowly slid open and she looked at the two friends on the bed next to the one she was in, stuffed her shirt between her teeth as she stealthily crawled out from the covers.

Bobbi had noticed that the young girl was making her way over to them, so she slid her hands beneath Vanessa's arms and lifted her up into a gentle embrace.

"I like hearing your heart," the young girl whispered, "it's usually so slow, but it's really fast now…"

Well, _shit_.

Dean quizzically looked at her - she pointedly ignored it, choosing instead to curl Vanessa into her a little more.

"It's because I'm so happy you're here." _Lie_.

But the young girl didn't pick up on it. She hummed and snuggled closer and Bobbi dropped her head back on the wall. _Fucking too close._

—

Vanessa was more in love with Roman than she was with any of the other superstars. She wouldn't leave him alone, barely let go of him, kept asking questions and nominated him as her babysitter every time Bobbi couldn't look after her.

The night went smoothly and the young girl behaved herself - mostly - and was back at home before midnight.

They drove in silence on the way back to the hotel and Bobbi was slumped against Seth in the backseat, absolutely exhausted.

"Did you even work out today, Bob?"

"Can it, Rollins."

 **—**

 **okay hi, so i know that Roman and Seth lose their championships on october 14, but as this is a work of fiction i figured that this didn't really have to happen, so it's not happening - they retain (at the moment). also im super sorry about the delay in updating, my computer was crashing the two times i tried to get it up and then i flew to some remote part of the country in the middle of no where (im surprised i have internet?).**

 **to my reviewers;** **Pinayprincesa** (SEXUAL FEELINGS~~~~), **Seth rollins babe** (i love it too), and **MissJessy** (you're username could legit be a ring name its fab. also, heartburn is one of my favourite things while reading, so i try and get that to happen and im super glad you're getting it! i don't really want Bobbi to be a normal Diva, so i'm gonna push the boundaries a bit! oh and you get to see her actually go into a match next chapter!)

 **to my readers, favourite-rs, followers, my beautiful people, drop me a comment and i'll keep writing this baby (also, i'm just over 60,000 words so you have that to look forward to :D )**


	8. Chapter 8

**RAW Live**

 **October 21st**

 **Memphis, Tennessee**

"Representing The Shield," Jilian announced, "At a combined weight of 482 pounds, and the WWE Tag Team Champions, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns."

The boys didn't look happy. Neither should they have been. A match that was torn completely out of their hands had played very well into the Big Show's - though they had retained their titles, he'd knocked each member flat on their backs in four knock-out punches. And the same had happened on SmackDown.

And because of it, they were set to take on the Uso's while Cody and Goldust sat on commentary. And if they could beat the Uso's, then it would only be a two team tag-team match up at Hell in a Cell. But if they lost, then the numbers would be turned against them and the match would become a triple-threat. How that was fair was beyond them.

So they stalked down to the ring, glowering and unhappy, and Bobbi was sporting a nice bruise on the left side of her face.

Reaching the announcers table, Bobbi made a face at Cody Rhodes. "You look _dashing_ ," she mocked.

"Could say the same about you," he fired back.

Her eyes hardened and her tongue ran along the top of her teeth as she was pulled away. Bobbi walked around the table, snatched a chair off the barricade and popped it open next to King. She propped her legs up on the table but completely ignored the commentator as he shot her a look.

"How does she not break an ankle in those things," she heard Cody ask seriously, but she flicked her head to the side and pulled her hair over her shoulder to completely block off the view of the number one contenders.

Seth and Jimmy started in the middle, traded blows back and forth. They spilled out and Dean and Bobbi stood either side of The Shield member and the Uso, but neither made a move, and Bobbi couldn't really help but stare at the number one contenders as they talked about their luck.

She sent Cody a bitter look and backed off, but didn't get back to her seat. Instead, she stayed near Dean. Listened to Seth Rollins smack talk and tell Roman how to do his part in the match.

Bobbi did nothing as the match rolled on, couldn't really step in and help out even if she wanted to. She paced back and forth and shared looks with Dean.

Until he turned on Cody and started a fight - and then chaos broke out.

She stayed to the side, stayed with Roman while she watched Dean be jumped on by Goldust and Cody, watched as Seth launched himself over the ropes, watched as Jimmy Uso ran around the side to crash the party. Bobbi pulled Roman out and threw him into the fight, and over the barricade Rhodes went.

The three men left standing after the bell went for a disqualification were The Shield. Bobbi smiled as she slid into the ring, pointed at Goldust, held her arms in the air in a thumbs up. Then turned them upside down. The crowd went nuts as they realised what that meant.

Dean threw Goldust into the ring and he got up, turned right into a Disaster Kick, Bobbi's shin bouncing off the side of his head. The boys rolled into the ring, started stomping and hitting the superstar.

Before anything else could happen, Cody Rhodes was back in the squared circle taking it to Seth and Dean was out on the floor with a Uso twin, and Bobbi slipped out before she could take any hits.

They were dominated and left through the crowd, the same way they came in, bruised and angry.

It was a triple threat. The tag team championship match at Hell in a Cell… was a triple threat. And The Shield were _livid_.

 **HELL IN A CELL 2013**

The SmackDown before the pay-per-view pitched her boys and Orton against Bryan, Big E Langston and the number one contenders, but the real fun didn't happen until Sunday night.

They kicked off the night, started in the ring with two other teams, and Bobbi stood alone ringside. She wasn't afraid to show her face, not now that she'd been told Big Show had a restraining order, and she'd go to each of the matches that the night had in store.

Seth Rollins was quick to slide out, holding his chest after a shoulder knock, but their attention was back on the ring straight away.

" _You may notice that Dean Ambrose of The Shield is not out here at ringside- we learnt earlier tonight on the kick off show that Dean Ambrose will be defending his title against Big E Langston!_ "

She smiled mockingly at Michael Cole.

Ten minutes in and she was grimacing at the make up that was running from Goldust's face. He looked like an old, drunken clown. And Roman and Seth kept playing dirty, kept it smart, separated the weird man from his brother.

Bobbi was clutching her hair in frustration every near fall, and every so often the camera would pan to her worried face.

"Come on, Rollins!" She screamed.

The match-up was nearing the twenty minute mark and Rollins was close to pinning Rhodes, but Cody had capitalised and suplexed Rollins off the top rope into the waiting superstars outside the ring.

And somehow her boys were robbed of another win. Reigns had speared Jimmy out of the ring, and he followed right after with Jey, and it left Rollins and Goldust in the squared circle - he'd hit Goldust with a crippling high kick that bounced off his head, went for the cover. The referee hadn't even reached a two count before Cody Rhodes jumped back in a launched himself off the middle rope, and by the time she was even starting to climb in to cause a disqualification, the three count was over. Cody had pinned Seth for the titles.

"Your winners and _NEW_ Tag Team Champions, Cody Rhodes and Goldust!"

—

When Bobbi walked down with Dean for his match, the crowd booed her so loudly it was hilarious. She sat up on the barricades, crossed her legs. She had no doubts that Dean would find a way to win this match.

Don't get her wrong, Big E Langston was _huge_. But Dean was eccentric.

After a good five minute bout, Langston sent Ambrose over the top. And Bobbi knew straight away that Ambrose wasn't playing when he grabbed his knee and slapped the padded floor.

He slipped back into the ring after a counter and shook his head subtly at Bobbi and she jumped off the barricade, moved to stand next to the ring.

Eventually, she walked around to the ramp. "Dean! You don't even need this! C'mon! We're going!"

He slipped out after her, turned his back on Big E Langston. And was dragged straight back into the ring. But Bobbi noticed the cut under his chin, watched Langston spear him out of the ring. Watched as Langston dragged him back in after the ten count. He jumped out of the ring with the count-out win and Bobbi slid in, traced her fingers across Dean's neck to try and get rid of some of the blood.

But his fingers brushed against hers and she quickly withdrew, sent a snarl at the smirking Langston.

When they got backstage, Bobbi wouldn't stop looking at the cut.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"Naaah."

"Seriously?"

"Been through a lot worse, kitten."

"Kitten?"

Dean glanced at her with a smirk. "Don't like pet names?"

Bobbi frowned at him again and ran her fingers along the underside of his chin, checking out the open wound. "You call me a pet name and I'll start calling you stud muffin."

"I have no issues with that, _kitten_."

Rolling her eyes, Bobbi stood back and watched as the onsite doctor started to stitch the cut. "You want me to wait for you, dimples?"

The dimples in question popped out as he smiled at her. "Thought you'd never ask."

—

 **RAW Live**

 **October 28th**

 **Orlando, Florida**

Tonight was a big night on TV. Bobbi was set to have her first match and spend some time on air, both with her boys and without them.

But right now, she was with them, and the cameras were rolling.

"Tonight could be the most important night in the history of the Shield," Dean said into the lens quietly. "I'm being forced to defend my United States Championship against Big E Langston."

Roman looked at him, lips twitching in a snarl.

"Now if Big E is a stock… I'm buyin' it. He's a human bulldozer, I felt the brunt of that last night," he motioned to his chin, "But make no mistake about it, Big E, it was a _privilege_ for you to get a few minutes of my time at Hell in a Cell, it was a privilege for you to share the ring with the United States Champion Dean Ambrose."

The lens caught a flash of Bobbi's hair as she stood next to Dean, but then Seth took a hold of it and thrust his face into the frame. "Last night, we made a mistake…"- Roman growled at that -"a crucial mistake when we underestimated the _potential_ of Big E Langston. Tonight, we have an opportunity to _rectify_ that mistake. Tonight, guys, we get _back_ to _basics_."

Roman nodded his head in agreement, and then the camera was back on Dean and Bobbi was peering over his shoulder menacingly.

"Look. I'm going to defend my US Title tonight _successfully_. The only championship The Shield has left," Dean's voice became louder but Bobbi's eyes weren't narrowed because of that. _Low blow_. "I'm gonna get the job done like I always do, because I'm the United States Champion and I'm the baddest man alive - _believe that_."

Roman gave Dean an even look, then leaned into the camera and pulled his lips back in a snarl. "Believe… in The Shield."

They were in the elevator shortly after, descending from the rafters with their music across the speakers and as a team they moved to stand in the ring.

But the match didn't even last for two minutes, because Roman and Seth went on the attack early, drawing the breath out of a felled Langston and keeping him down outside the ring. Bobbi wanted no part, simply launched herself onto the top turnbuckle and yelled insults as the boys continued their beat-down.

And then… the Uso's and Brie Bella (sorry, what?) were running out.

Bobbi snorted as she launched off the top rope, and finally she was wrestling against a Diva. Brie came at her hard, landing an elbow across her face, drawing her out of the ring so she'd have no influence whatsoever.

"Hang on, hang on!"

The voice over the speakers belonged to Brad Maddox and the crowd booed loudly as he walked to the top of the ramp. Brie and Bobbi were stood facing each other, neither moving - like a Mexican stand off.

"I've got a _real_ simple solution. That singles match is now a six-man tag. I wanna see it _right now_."

He paused, looked at the women at the bottom of the ramp.

"And Bobbi, since you so _desperately_ want to fight someone," Brad Maddox said, grimace on his face, "Why don't you go get ready for your match against Brie… _and_ Nikki Bella?"

Bobbi raised an eyebrow. Shook her head. Laughed. Pointed at the Bella twin who was staring her down.

Her actions were confident and Brad rolled his eyes, tilted his head to the side. "You go in alone, without The Shield, without anybody in your corner. Let's see how well you cope when the numbers are turned against you."

—

Because she was alone, Bobbi didn't walk out through the stands of the crowd. With The Shield's music blaring into the arena, Bobbi walked out from the side of the stage, hair down in soft waves and wrists tied in black tape.

The crowd jeered her entrance, but a few were cheering _for_ her, and that she didn't really mind as much as she used to.

Moments before, the audience had been witness to a horrific beat down of Daniel Bryan at the hands of the Wyatt Family. And when The Bella Twins came out and Brie was obviously distraught for her husband, Bobbi knew she had the match in the bag. Simple. A quick in and out.

Brie started the match. She shook off her nerves as The Shield member circled her but it was plain as day that she wasn't going to last long.

They locked up and Bobbi easily pulled her into a head hold, walked across and jumped up on a turnbuckle, taunting Nikki who stood up on the apron. She was shaking Brie's body as she lifted her feet off the floor, and then Bobbi dropped her, quickly followed to enclose her arms around the divas waist, threw her over her head in a German suplex.

" _Her strength is incredible, Cole!_ "

She taunted Brie, circled around her as the diva tried to get back up onto her feet. Then pushed her into the corner the other Bella was in and moved back as Nikki flew into the ring. She ran right at Bobbi and Bobbi threw her hands up in a 'come on' motion, then ducked under a clothesline and bounced off the ropes.

When Bobbi dodged another clothesline, she grabbed a fistful of the dark hair and used Nikki's momentum to lift her off her feet, slamming the diva to the ground in her own face-buster finisher.

Bobbi was _dominating_ the handicap match and the audience had fallen silent in shock.

Slowly, very deliberately, Bobbi unzipped the vest and shrugged it off. There were a couple of wolf whistles, but mainly people were wondering why she hadn't gone into the cover.

Turning Nikki's body to face her sister, Bobbi crouched with one leg either side of Nikki, locked the Diva's elbows across her thighs and sat back in an adapted camel clutch with her vest pulling against the bottom half of the Bella's face and neck.

The match was over before she even reached the five count, the legal diva tapping out in submission.

She jumped out of the hold, walked over to the edge of the ring and demanded for the technician with the microphone to give it to her.

"This little match up? It didn't even last for two minutes." Bobbi glared at the diva on the floor. "This _entire_ Diva's Division is a complete _joke_."

The microphone _doofed_ as Bobbi threw it against the back of Nikki's head. But instead of her music playing across the speakers, AJ Lee's did. Bobbi jumped out of the ring and pushed past the giddy Diva's Champion as she went in for sloppy seconds.

Stephanie was the first to approach Bobbi when she went backstage. "Not that you don't have an amazing figure, Bobbi, but I thought you were going to keep your vest on for the match."

"No," she shook her head. "Didn't work when I practiced earlier, so I had to figure out a way to go in and out with it on, and that's what I did."

The woman frowned. "Next time come see me about that, yeah? I mean it's not a big deal but if we're pushing you with that vest for The Shield, taking it off makes you seem like you're backing away."

"Yeah, I understand. Sorry."

—

The coronation ceremony saw Bobbi standing between Dean and Roman as they stared up at the locker room who occupied the stage. Her vest was back on, hair barely out of place.

When Triple H walked past them, he nodded. They followed the boss into the ring, stood threateningly behind him, and Bobbi was back up on her usual turnbuckle for what felt like the first time in a month.

She didn't really pay attention, just made faces when she was in the background, listened to her cues.

Hunter ranted about Randy and the previous night and Daniel Bryan, and she shifted her hair over her shoulder when his music hit.

And then Randy was ranting. He sounded a little raspy, like he'd been celebrating the night before, and Bobbi had to smother a grin by rolling her lips between her teeth.

But before he'd even been on the mic for two minutes, the crowd went nuts, The Big Show's music was blaring and he was blundering down the ramp with his eyes set for revenge. The Shield boys jumped out, went after him, got tossed aside when the Uso's and Goldust came down to even the odds.

Bobbi knew better now, but had no choice of fleeing when Stephanie pulled her off the turnbuckle and literally hid behind her. They climbed out of the ring and Stephanie had a grip like steel on her arm as she dragged her personal protection detail around.

Show was _mad_. He spoke proudly through the microphone until Randy slammed the back of the championship against his head. When he went for another shot, Randy walked right into a knock out punch.

" _Triple H and Stephanie are in shock!_ "

And she stayed with Stephanie until the show went off air, but then she was out of there with a car ride to crash and boys to annoy.

The group had decided to travel together to the next town separate from everyone else. They were heading to Tampa, Florida from Orlando, and Seth had heard about this wrestling gym off the internet.

So they would stay in Orlando for the night, take off early in the morning to hit the prestigious gym, and then continue on the road.

"Hey, Bob!"

She looked up from the book she'd stolen from Dean, smiled as she met the gaze of Seth. While Roman was trying to catch up some much needed sleep, Seth was content to stay with Dean and Bobbi in their room until they went to bed. "What's up, blondie?"

" _Apparently_ what you said to Orton a couple of weeks ago was _completely_ off the cuff," Seth said excitedly, "He got really mad afterwards, stormed off until his curtain call."

Bobbi laughed and laid the book down after earring the page. "I'm not surprised."

"I'll believe _that_ when I see it."

The vote of confidence rocked Bobbi's core. She sent Ambrose a half-glare, told him in no uncertain terms to fuck off.

"No, I mean, Orton has issues, but you could never make someone that mad - you're like a teddy bear, Arlett."

"You doubt me, stud muffin?"

"Uh ooooh," Seth drawled quietly as he looked between the two, "this isn't going to end well."

Dean put his book down, took a swig of the beer in front of him. "I bet you the car ride and music choice tomorrow morning that you can't get me mad."

"Seriously?"

"Utterly."

"You sure you want me to do this?" Bobbi asked seriously, her voice lacking her usual sassy tone and instead completely stoic.

Seth took in a deep breath and excused himself, the tension too much for his drunk mind to handle.

"You mean to tell me that you ad-libbed that entire segment with Orton?" Dean didn't believe her. "Prove it to me, I have nothing to hide from you."

Bobbi didn't know what insulted her more; his lack of belief in her ability, or his belief that he had nothing to hide.

So she laughed, chose the option that didn't involve talking about her. "You have nothing to hide? Oh, what a bunch of bullshit! All you do is lock this part of you away, Dean, you get this flash in your eyes when you're out in the ring or when someone questions you, but you never act on it, you hide it, you stuff it down."

He was stunned into silence. Jaw slack and eyes wide, he said, "What?"

"Dean, c'mon," Bobbi reasoned with him, "You can't honestly sit there and tell me that you don't lock some part of yourself away from everyone else, I mean, apart from me and a handful of the other guys, you're a damn _mystery_ to everyone else. You have so many freaking walls."

"Oh, and you're talking like you don't have the same ones!"

"I know I have the same ones, Dean!" She ran a hand through her hair and pushed her chair back from the table. "But I don't freaking deny it like you do."

He shook his head and sucked his lip into his mouth, unconvinced, and crossed his arms over his chest. Her eyes narrowed at the motion because this was his way of unconsciously saying he was done.

Bobbi locked her jaw and let out a deep breath. _He wasn't getting out of this now that he'd started it_. "You think there's some hidden part of me?"

"I know there is," Dean smirked at the provocation, threw his arms out wide. "There's always something hidden."

"You're wrong, Dean. I may have anger and trust issues, but at least I have full control of my emotional range." Bobbi stood then, grabbed another Corona from the fridge and twisted the cap off. "I don't need to hide the fact that I lose my temper, the fact that I get mad, or the fact that I don't trust people as far as I can throw them, that's not something worth hiding."

"Then what is? Cause I can see those eyes you know, I see them when I stare into my own in the mirror, I _know_ those eyes. You're hiding something."

 _Hiding attraction towards him?_ Sure, she was definitely hiding that.

"Not hiding a thing."

Dean pushed his chair back, the scraping sound now eliciting the attention of a distracted Rollins. Ambrose walked towards her as his arms crossed, fingers tapping along his bicep, and stared her down. Seth was now fully aware of what was going on. He could sense the newfound tension rolling off of the two in waves and even in his drunken state positioned himself to jump in if he needed to.

"So what is it?" Dean pressed. "Daddy issues? Wasn't there for you as a child and now you have to fight your way through abandonment anxiety? Or maybe it's an ex-boyfriend issue, maybe he used you one too many times and you got sick of it, maybe he pushed you too far and you lost a part of yourself that was important, maybe he broke your heart and it never got put back together. Could be none of those reasons and you're just a little twisted in the brain like I am, possibly you can't be any other way, possibly to stop yourself from losin' another part of your soul you've descended into this heartless routine of never being true with the people around you for the fun of it."

Bobbi's nostrils flared.

"Ah," Dean drawled. His tongue ran over his bottom lip, dimples present in a smile. "There she is."

Bobbi growled at him and shoved her hands against his chest, pushing him away from her. "Don't talk like you know me."

"All it takes is for someone like me to meet someone like you…" he trailed off, fingers tapping along his collarbone. "You won't be able to hide it for long in this business."

"I'm not hiding a fucking thing, Dean, but if you don't get the fuck out of my face right now I'm going to break your nose."

Seth stood from his seat then, putting a hand on Dean's shoulder and pushing him back a few steps. "Come on tough guy, not today."

His face split in a smile, but it wasn't warm or nice, and he shoved the longer haired man off him.

"Seth, don't stop this," Bobbi growled.

Looking at her with a resigned expression, Seth new he wouldn't be much help if the two of them went at it, just new that he'd be in the way and that if they tried to smother it, it would eventually, one day, explode. So he pushed out of the door, muttering, "I'm gonna go stay with Ro."

The door shut with a soft click but Bobbi and Dean weren't even bothered, couldn't tear away from the other's gaze. And then Bobbi smirked. Because Dean thought he was winning this battle, but he had no idea that Bobbi was able to twist a situation to suit her.

"You there yet? That place in your head that makes you _mad_?" But she already new the answer, because the flame in his eyes was only just beginning to be ignited. "Because I'm only just getting started."

"You conniving, sadistic woman…" he murmured. Bobbi's eyebrows shot up at the words he used to describe her.

She tilted her head to the side, mask completely dropped from her face. If she was going to do this, she was going to do this dirty and she was going to do it with conviction. If he pushed her, she would shove back, if he wanted to start something, she'd finish it.

Bobbi's eyes were hard as she looked up at him. "It's funny when you get to know someone personally. You find their quirks, decipher their behaviour, read deeper into their words. At first you were difficult to figure out, you had these walls, one after another, and as soon as I got closer, you'd back right off. But I got closer, I found your ticks. There's this thing you do, both on screen and off, where you run your fingers along your collarbone when you're frustrated. You don't sleep well without someone next to you because you don't like being alone, you don't feel safe. It took so long for me to get through to you. You don't trust a lot of people, Dean, it isn't in your nature. I've seen the Moxley videos, I've seen enough to know that those weren't just plucked from somewhere, those were _part_ of you."

His head dropped to the side, eyes sliding shut as his fists clenched.

"So you can talk about this shit like it doesn't bother you, but we both know every fight you had you made it _personal_. Personal enough that you were able to withstand being cut open, that you wanted to stab someone with a fork." Dean turned away from her, leaned his head against the wall next to him. "You don't stay a persona for long before it becomes you, and you become it - that's the problem with pretending to be someone else all the time, Dean; it becomes a part of you. To make something believable you need to put truth into it, and then it invades you like a disease."

Dean had his hands up against the wall, lips pulled back as he rolled his head to the side. Bobbi new she was getting inside his head, new that behind his closed eyes was a storm that she was causing, and she slowly inched closer to the man she had now wrapped around her finger.

"You see, I don't have to hide, Dean." A grin spread across her lips, tongue running against her teeth, black tendrils of hair falling across her shoulder as she ducked to try and catch his eyes. "I have nothing to hide… I know I'm sadistic, I know my ticks, I know what makes me react, but I can control it."

His eyelids snapped open then. He was seething, jaw locked. He was retreating into his own head, his worst enemy, and Bobbi kept right on him. "But you know the problem with trying to hide something? Soon enough you can't control it, it'll bite back up to the surface when you least want it to."

There was a huff as he pushed off the wall, walking away from her and slamming the side of his fist against the bathroom door. But he didn't leave. Bobbi smirked again at that. He was staying either because he was beginning to lose control or because he _wanted_ to lose control.

Bobbi followed him, pressed herself against his side, gently curled her hand around his neck. "C'mon, Mox," she breathed heavily into his ear, voice teasing with the old name. "You can't hide forever."

There was a rush of movement as Dean lashed out, shoving his hands under her chin, letting his fingers curl around her throat. He pushed her up against the door with a loud bang and for a second Bobbi was seeing stars. Slipping his leg between hers, hooking his knee around the back of her knee, keeping her from escaping - the position screamed dominance.

And instead of being shocked… she smiled. His hands wrapped tighter around her throat, eyes burning against her own, but she didn't look like she was scared. Yet the hands heavy on Dean's arms could've argued the opposite.

"Ah," she mimicked him, "there he is."

"You think you know me so well? You would have picked up then that the moment I closed my eyes you shoulda stopped talkin'."

There was acid coating his words and she was still struggling to get the air into her lungs. " _You_ challenged me, and then you pushed me, Dean. What did you expect?"

The anger in his eyes slowly dissipated. He pulled back. Hands threaded through his mousey blonde hair and then ran down along his face, and he turned completely away from her. When he looked back over his shoulder, there was a playful glint in his gaze and the storm had completely disappeared.

"No, you're right, kitten." Dean walked back over to the table, plopped himself back down on the seat, took a swig of his bear. "I was out of line."

Bobbi shrugged. "Not like you're wrong though." She took a deep breath, slowly walked over to join him. "I do have these boundaries and walls and shit."

The look Dean gave her could only be explained as questioning.

"I push people further than I should just to see how they react. Like what I just did with you. Sometimes I do it consciously, sometimes I do it unconsciously. But it happens. But, you know, I want to know a person before I decide that I can trust them." Bobbi looked at him and softly quirked an eyebrow. "All about trust, isn't it?"

Dean agreed with her. But he was still perturbed. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That half of the stuff I did at Combat and DG was… y'know, me?"

Bobbi paused. How could she answer this safely? _I watch you all the time and gauge your reactions to certain situations, and then I watch videos from your time in the indie circuits to compare and contrast just because I want to._ Yeah, no.

"Well, you said it yourself," Bobbi tried, "I can see it because I used to be the same way. When I was back there, I had trouble separating myself from the gimmick, but some truths still remain in the way I act today, so. I don't know, intuition, I guess?"

The answer seemed appealing enough to him and the subject was dropped almost straight away.

But it was too close for Bobbi's liking. She still didn't understand her feelings for him, though she _did_ recognise the pull and the effect he had on her. Just the sound of his voice had the ability to turn her on, not to mention the amount of times she woke up with his back curled against hers (or the one time she woke up to him tugging off beside her). Bobbi tried to be alluring, to act in the same way he did to pull him in, but nothing worked, and she was miserably clutching at her fraying hopes that he could possibly feel something more for her.

And what if he did? She didn't do relationships, she didn't do emotions. Bobbi wasn't that kind of girl, not anymore. Friends? _Sure_. Boyfriend-girlfriend shit? _No_.

They were quick to wrap up the night and Bobbi crawled into bed, finding Dean propped up against the pillows.

She stared up at him until he finally looked down, and then she murmured a quiet, "I'm sorry." She knew she could rest easy when he returned the apology.

* * *

 **eeeeeekk im back up at 5,400 sorry :( im trying to get it to flow faster with shorter updates but i just... it doesn't work when its not altogether, if you know what i mean?**

 **thankyou to my two faithful reviewers, one a guest, the other** Pinayprincesa (YAY FEELS RIGHT? hope ur feeling them after this chapter heheh) **and like of course i have to throw in some tension before it gets to the good bits :D also, what do you think of Bobbi? and what would you like to see more of? interactions with Phil and Bray? interactions with the three boys as a group? or just more of Dean and Bobbi? or do you want more ring work? tell me what you want so I can make you happy :)**

 **please remember to drop a comment so i can talk to you, love you guys heaps - also, the chapter after the next one, the rating is going up to an M. muahahaha :)))))))**

 **edit: my uncle-in-law passed away today, give me a while to get everything back on track please, don't be upset if i don't update for a while**


	9. Chapter 9

**October 29th**

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **Tampa, Florida**

By the time they got to the arena, Bobbi had barely got four hours of shut eye - but that wasn't even the slightest of her problems; her thigh was going through horrible cramps every time she went to walk up the stairs and she had a massive headache, and she thanked the Gods above that she only had one thing to do tonight. And that was to be a nuisance (something she did best).

She walked down trailing her boys, hair pumped up with volume and thrown into a messy pony tail, heeled boots smacking against the concrete with a satisfying noise. The arena was filled with boos and it only made Bobbi more chipper.

The match up was scheduled for Ambrose and Rollins going at it against the Uso's. And it was definitely weird since those two never paired up, but Roman had been complaining about a sore foot for the entire day, so Stephanie had made the quick decision to change it up.

It was a quick in and out (even though it wasn't). The match spiralled out of control and it ended with Bobbi pushing against Roman's chest so he didn't do anything stupid. Like start a three on one fight with no back up.

Next week, they were set to head out to Europe. And, not that Bobbi wasn't looking forward to it… but she wasn't really looking forward to it. Lots of travelling and horrible house shows that were nothing special. She'd have to carry a sleeping bag around with her and some noise cancelling ear-phones, because that'd be the only way she'd ever catch up on sleep.

She'd gone out the back and changed into some loose boyfriend jeans, some Toms and a simple t-shirt, and when she came out, her favourite Samoan was waiting for her.

"You ready to hit the road, baby girl?" He asked tiredly.

She smiled softly at him and threw her duffle over her shoulder, following him down the large hallways. Bobbi loved Roman. Where Dean called her a teddy bear, she didn't think there was anyone more suited to the term than Ro.

"How's your little girl?" Bobbi asked, head tilting to look into his grey eyes.

A small grin fell onto his lips and he fumbled his phone from his pocket, tapping it a few times before showing her his beautiful daughter.

Bobbi had met her once, cradled the small five year old child in her arms while she dozed off at a house warming party. She'd fallen in love. Really, any child that wasn't hers was absolutely fantastic.

"She's missing her dad," he sighed sadly after a pause. "I was supposed to go to Pen during the break this week before we go to Europe, but Dean wants some help moving his stuff into a new apartment and Seth's got shit going on with Leighla, so…"

"I can do it." Bobbi volunteered easily. He shot her a look and then shook his head, but she wasn't done. "No, seriously. You should go spend time with her, she won't see you until you get back."

He was still skeptical. "Bob, Seth told me about the fight you two had last night…"

"Jesus," she muttered, dropping her eyes. "It wasn't a fight, we had a disagreement and sorted it out. All good."

They turned the corner into the large parking area and spotted the huge SUV, Dean and Seth leaning against it in casual conversation.

"Ambrose!" Bobbi called out. When he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she took it as her signal to continue. "Roman's spending time with his daughter this week, so I'll come and help you sort your shit out."

His face split in a smile. "Fuck, yeah."

Bobbi turned to Roman with a victorious smirk on her face, placed her arms on her hips and confidently said, "All sorted, Ro. Go see your daughter."

—

It was only when Bobbi got onto that four and a half our plane-ride _alone_ with Dean did she realise what she'd signed herself up for. And _fuck_.

He pestered her for the window seat, made her get up constantly so he could stretch his legs, never sat still for more than a minute. Bobbi swore to herself that the next time he got up, she'd shove herself into his seat and never move again. That, and the fact she was absolutely exhausted, made for an… interesting flight.

"Bob…"

"Yeah?"

"What're you listenin' to?"

"Music."

"Specifically…?"

She sent a glare at him and returned to her relaxed state, shoved her headphones back in spot. Quickly, her right ear was back out in the open.

"I'm bored."

The look in her eyes should have turned Dean to stone. "Entertain yourself."

"Entertain me."

"Go jack off or something."

"I have nothin' to do that to, darlin'."

"Find a hot girl on the plane and join the mile high club."

"Why are you suddenly suggesting so much sex? Last time I did something, you went off your face."

And, well, that was true. She'd heard him one morning pulling off in the bed next to her, thankfully facing away, and she'd started yelling, throwing multiple pillows at him just to wipe the stupid sleepy grin off his face. 'I didn't think you'd wake up!' - _bullshit_.

"Because I feel like it's the only thing that'll shut you up."

He paused then, not really knowing how to respond to her truthful banter. "Well, the only attractive woman on this plane is kind of a bitch."

"What a shame," she mumbled, turning back to close her eyes "Maybe you can go and grind on her, see if that'll change her mind."

And suddenly her hand was in his as he dragged it towards him, and almost in slow motion he laid it down on top of his jeans, pressed against his crotch, and with a deadpan facial expression, he lifted his hips up to grind into her hand.

"Oh, my Jesus Christ," Bobbi almost yelled, pulling her arm away and staring at the amused man in shock. "What the fuck?!"

"You told me to grind-"

"I did not realise I was who you were talking about," Bobbi murmured, her face flushed red with embarrassment as people began to glance over at their exchange. "Don't do that again, you're gross."

 _Had… had that just happened?_

Bobbi took in a controlled, deep breath and turned to look back at Dean with a horrified expression. "You're fucking proud of yourself, aren't you?"

"I'm bored!" He drawled, and the satisfied smirk on his face told her that he _was_ indeed proud of himself.

"And also insatiable."

His grin looked like it belonged to the cheshire cat.

How was she supposed to survive with him for the next two days if she couldn't even last an hour?

—

The first night was okay, admittedly. Both were exhausted, so they threw on a couple of old movies and kicked back to relax.

In the comfort of his own house, Dean slept in the bed by himself ('Not that I don't absolutely love having your ass pressed against my back, but you can sleep on the couch tonight.') and left Bobbi to the fold out lounge in his living room.

Most of his things were already in boxes, and by tomorrow, everything would be out of the small apartment.

And the next day was so hectic Bobbi felt like pulling her hair out. Moving herself back to Winthrop had been stressful enough, but moving somebody else out? _Never. Again_.

They sat in the middle of new spacious apartment — almost like a pent-house that was ten minutes walk from the strip — and waited until one of Dean's friends showed up to set up the TV.

"Sorry if I overstepped the line yesterday," Dean said, eyes sincere, "I just wanted to mess around."

She rolled her eyes at him and told him not to worry about it, and soon enough they both went back to singing as loud as they could to the 80s mix Dean had put together for such occasions. The beer came out — Corona for Bobbi, because that was her second love — and the three of them (Bobbi remembered his friend's name as Luke) ordered some take away Mexican.

The spicy rice and the refreshing beer had Bobbi giggling like she was eighteen again, throwing in sarcastic remarks when Dean relayed the entirety of the month he'd been gone. She kicked back and rested her head on the back of the couch, just enjoying being in the company of the superstar.

But then the Tequila bottle was brought out. Some salt. A lemon. And _fuck_ was this going to get her drunk.

Luke set up nine shot glasses on the floor, each with a generous pouring of the dangerous liquor. Dean's friend licked the back of his hand, sprinkled some salt onto the flesh, pushed the lime between his fingers. He took a deep breath, licked the salt, shot back the three separate glasses of tequila, and then bit into the lime.

His body was visibly shaking and Bobbi shared a horrified look with Dean as she laughed.

Dean was next. Licking the back of his thumb, pouring some salt, grabbing a quarter of the lime; his wide tongue dashed over the back of his hand and Bobbi's insides quickly churned as it ducked back into his mouth. As she watched him hit back the three shots and suck hard on the lime, she tried to erase the images of him using that exact mouth to ravish her body.

And really, she could have blamed her guttered thoughts on the fact that she was drunk. Except that wasn't the reason.

When Dean looked up at her, clouded, dark eyes stared back at him. Bobbi felt like they were alone, felt like his gaze had taken her half way across the ocean, felt like she could lean over and jump his bones without any regrets.

As he stared back at her, his own eyes became hooded. Almost as if they were sharing a intrapersonal connection that had put Bobbi's thoughts into his mind.

Reaching forward slowly and very, _very_ deliberately, Dean took her hand in his own, lifted it to his mouth. Bobbi's stomach dropped and her chest physically ached as he dragged his tongue and bottom lip along the back off her thumb.

She sucked in a shuddering breath and never once tore her eyes from his until the salt was drenched over the back of her hand.

The thing about tequila shots was that you couldn't take the time to be seductive.

So she let a low moan sound at the back of her throat in anticipated disgust, sucked the salt into her mouth, tipped back the first shot and let the hot liquid slide down the back of her throat. By the time the second and third followed, her throat was burning and so were her lungs, but she bit into the lime, juice acting as a chaser.

Bobbi's entire body shuddered as the kick of the tequila reached the back of her throat and Dean openly laughed as she thrashed her legs on the ground.

"That's fuckin' rancid," she managed to get out, sharing a laugh with the man sitting next to her, "Like the actual fuck, Dean, who thought that would be a good idea?"

It didn't even take ten minutes until the hard liquor was reacting with her body. Luke had passed out on the fold-out couch and Dean had managed to call him a taxi, and together they both supported his weight so he could get down stairs.

"Fuckin' ephi-" Dean paused as the word came out wrong, hiccuped, "eph- fuckin'- fuckin' _elephant_."

Bobbi clutched her stomach as she laughed, and then they were back in the spacious lift and alone once more. When they walked back through Dean's front door, Bobbi immediately started belting her lungs out to the song that was midway through playing.

"And she'll tease you," Bobbi sang, splaying her arms wide and jumping her legs out. "She'll unease you, all the better just to please you!"

Dean joined in now, singing just as loud as she was, joined into her ridiculous attempt at dancing.

But… Bobbi had other plans."She's precocious, and she knows she needs a shower," she lifted her arms up and took a sniff of her underarm, Dean's eyes boggling out of his head as he laughed at her. "She's got Bette Davis eyyyyessss."

Applauding herself and him, she took a bow and wobbled off to the grand bathroom.

And when she was done, she walked out in nothing but a thin camisole and her cotton shorts. If she was trying to be seductive... it was working. Because Dean's dark eyes following her around the kitchen as she grabbed another bottle of light beer sent chills through her body.

Throwing herself on the couch next to him, Bobbi gave him a smile. "Hot water works just fine."

Whatever Dean was about to say next died in his mouth as he gazed at the length of her torso, the curve of her breasts. The cold air conditioning, as well as the friction of her nipples against the material of her singlet, kept them full and hard. The expanse of her thighs looked smooth, were probably smoother to touch, and Bobbi watched from the corner of her eye as his adams apple bobbed.

"You're looking at me like I'm about to give you a lap dance, Ambrose," Bobbi murmured, the corner of her mouth pulling up in a sly grin.

He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and his hooded eyes finally came up to meet hers. "I'm not opposed to the idea…"

So, she threw all caution to the wind.

Bobbi shifted, threw a leg over Dean's waist and settled her hips between his legs, dangerously close to falling off him altogether. His hands were quick to shoot to her sides, but she didn't look perturbed. The blue in his eyes weren't even blue anymore, they were clouded and dark with the lust he felt for her.

And instead of giving him a lap dance, her fingers latched around the collar of his shirt and without a second of hesitation she pulled his mouth down onto hers.

 _Oh. Oh, fuck_.

His mouth was soft, stubble scratching against her cheek. Slowly, the tension in his hands lessened. He didn't respond to the kiss at first, let Bobbi press herself up into him. When she pulled away the smirk wouldn't leave her face and his gaze had become even darker.

"Bobbi…" His voice was husky, gravelly, made Bobbi's toes curl and insides churn. "You're such a fuckin' tease."

She inched up on her knees as he wriggled forward; then, he was looking up at her and she ducked her head to run her lips along his cheek. "That's half the fun, isn't it?"

When he didn't answer her, Bobbi slid her hands up along his arms and removed his fingers from her sides, coaxing them onto her breasts, inched her head forward to run her teeth across his ear lobe.

"Isn't it?"

One of his arms was quick to drop and curl around her waist, the other pushing underneath the light singlet to splay across her back. He pulled her tighter against him, pressed his lips into hers feverishly, kissing her with such force it was almost winding. His tongue was in her mouth, hers in his, and it was sloppy and needy and tasted like alcohol but felt _so right_.

It didn't take long until Dean was grinding his hips up against hers and Bobbi's breath was out of her lungs in a rushed gasp.

She slipped her hand up onto his shoulder, running it up over the warm skin of his neck, tracing her fingers into the dirty blonde hair. Dean lifted his hips against her again. Bobbi dragged her sharpened nails down the back of his scalp, tugged on the hair at the base of his neck, elicited a moan from Dean that had heat pooling in her stomach.

Bobbi tore her lips away from Dean and gazed at him with hooded eyes before ducking her face into his neck. _Do that again_. She sunk her teeth into the soft flesh under his jaw, listened to the sound of his breath hitch. Sucked harder, listened to a whine at the back of his throat. _Do it again_.

And so… this was her. And Dean. Her and Dean. Making out and grinding on his new couch in his new apartment. Bobbi felt this tightness in her chest, like her diaphragm was constricting, like the anticipation and the feel of their movements was so good it was impossible to get her lungs to work.

She raked her nails down his scalp again, only wanting to hear a simple moan, when the door to her back was being knocked on.

A breathy laugh tore through her throat. _Of course_. When the knocking didn't stop, she unhooked her hands from the back of his neck, slowly sunk back down so she was eye level with him. His hands, now gripping her hips, flexed once, almost like he was commanding her to stay there. The blue eyes staring back at her were dark and burning with lust and Bobbi couldn't find the strength to move.

"Delivery for Ambrose."

The voice came through the door and Dean's head dropped back against the couch with a pained groan.

"Fuck."

When Dean finished signing off on the package, Bobbi was slumped against the cushions and softly snoring.

—

She woke in the morning to a pounding headache and an arm curled around her waist, and a flush crept up her neck and spread across her cheeks as she remembered the night before.

It had really happened. She'd finally found the courage (albeit in a liquid form) to make a move, and Dean had returned it two-fold.

And yet she had faked being asleep just to get away from the tantalising situation, because all she could hear was a chorus of what had been said to her.

" _There's always something hidden."_

 _"Not everything has to have a game plan."_

Bobbi smothered a sigh as she dragged a hand down her face. She didn't have a game plan. She didn't. But game plans were all she knew, all she could use to protect herself when it came to men. She wanted to believe so _desperately_ that Dean was different, that she could just be herself around him.

Was being herself enough to please him, though? Would he like her for who she was? Once he realised her past, would he look at her differently? Once he learnt about the story behind Barrett, would he stay? One he learnt the story about Nathan, would he even want to know her?

"You're thinking too loudly," came Dean's sleepy voice. His eyes were closed as she glanced over, but his fingers flexed on her waist. "Go back to sleep, Bob."

Even if she could, she didn't have time. She had two hours to pack her things and get on her flight to Chicago, spend the next couple of days with her mom, possibly catch up with a couple of old friends.

When Dean's lips pressed against her shoulder blade, a sigh fell from her lips. She felt parched, but every time he touched her, it was almost akin to drinking the purest water on Earth.

But Bobbi had to listen to what Bray said. This was dangerous and Bobbi felt like she was exploring new territory, wanted to pull back and just observe everything for a while.

Shifting to fix her light green eyes onto him, she rested her head on her arm and ran her hand through the tousled curls on his head.

"I don't know what you want this to be, Dean," she tried softly, "but I'm not interested in a relationship. So we can do the whole flirting, touchy-feely, sex thing, but I can't emotionally invest in a relationship. And I'm not going to lead you on, I'm telling you this right now so you don't get the wrong idea."

Bobbi was impressed when he pursed his lips and nodded. Maybe this was what she was, maybe all he recognised her as at the moment was a close friend and someone who was physically attractive. She could live with that.

—

 ** _Almost two weeks later…_**

 **Vienna, Austria**

 **Saturday 16th, 2013**

The flight back to Chicago was ten and a half hours.

And the past week, from the moment she left Chicago to fly into Dublin, consisted of a whopping thirty-five and a half hours worth of travel time.

Bobbi was so exhausted, so tired that the bags under her eyes had only gotten bigger and bigger on her overseas trip.

The Monday night RAW in Manchester had seen a stand off with the Wyatt family descend into chaos, where she had stood between the two teams and pushed them away from each other, acting as a peace keeper to point out their common enemy; _the enemy of my enemy is my friend_ , after all. It was intense, had the foreign crowd screaming 'this is awesome!' and left Bobbi with goosebumps down her arms.

Phil was next to her, cap pulled low over his face and glasses on to remain inconspicuous. Bobbi had her hair tucked up into a slouch beanie, aviators covering her eyes, felt extremely comfortable in the oversized dark green jumper and boyfriend jeans.

Ro, Seth and Bray had already caught their flights back, which left her, the Straight Edge Superstar, and Dean. The latter of whom wasn't set to leave for Las Vegas for another hour and looked just as exhausted as she did.

Most of the time they spent on the road had been spent together. They were inseparable, always around each other, but nothing had happened since the night in Dean's new apartment. Instead, their friendship was solidified. Roman and Seth, of course, were thrown into the mix, and the four of them became the rosters biggest pain in the ass with all the time they spent running around and trying to stealthily attack each other. _That_ had started when Roman crept up on Dean and scared the shit out of him - the rest was history.

And the fact that Dean hadn't made a move bid the question _had he even meant it?_ Had the night in Vegas happened only because he was drunk?

Her response to those exact questions couldn't have been more torn. They still slept in the same bed, nothing had changed in that respect - in fact, nothing had changed at all. And maybe that was why she was so confused.

"Hey Bob," Dean piped up, grinning ear to ear with dimples present in his cheeks, "Come get a coffee with me?"

"You paying for it?" She rolled her eyes when he smiled wider, chucked her phone into her bag, asked for Phil to look after her stuff.

They walked quickly through the crowds of people, ducked and weaved between people who were looking at them like they recognised them and people who didn't even care.

But when Dean's arm slipped around her bicep, pulled her into a secluded area, she suddenly realised they weren't going for coffee. Her heart lurched up into her throat, chest tightening as Dean pushed her up against the wall.

His hand cupped her face, fingers threading through her hair as he pushed her sunglasses back, and the other fell onto the small of her back.

"Dean-"

The words in Bobbi's mouth fell quiet as his lips pushed onto hers.

It wasn't hard like their first had been, it wasn't rushed or sloppy or fuelled by liquid courage, it wasn't demanding or controlling. Dean's lips were soft and gentle and caressing and Bobbi couldn't pull air into her lungs because she was so thrown.

Pulling back, Dean's clear blue eyes stared down at her. He didn't say anything, just gauged her reaction as his gaze flickered between her mouth and eyes.

So she did the only thing that was running through her mind. She returned the favour.

Her arms moved from between their bodies and she laced one around the back of his neck, the other twisting into his dirty blonde curls. Their lips were pressed together, moving slowly, and when Dean pulled her bottom lip between his, she couldn't stop the groan at the back of her throat.

Dangerously close to being found out, she didn't even care, sensually slid her tongue into his mouth. Just the taste of him was intoxicating and the ache in her chest became stronger, frown falling onto her face, fingers pulling at his hair.

He pulled back again, but his lips lingered on hers, touching softly as their breaths mingled. Bobbi's eyes slid open and she met his. Pale green on deep blue. His hand trailed down to her neck and Bobbi tried to stop the sigh falling from her lips as it trailed under her chin.

Gently, Dean pressed his lips to hers one last time before pushing away completely.

The raised eyebrows on Bobbi's face conveyed her unasked question, a smirk falling across his lips as his arm curled around her waist.

"Gonna miss havin' your snarky ass around for the next couple of days, kitten," he answered quietly. "Gotten used to your snoring and everything."

The corner of Bobbi's lips pulled up and she let her fingers drop to curl around the collar of his black jumper. "You'll see me on Monday, twinks…"

He shrugged and stepped back, led them back out into the main walkway of the terminal. And _oh yeah_ , was she smitten for this man. Her heart rate was through the roof and her cheeks were flushed and Dean had his arm slung across the back of her shoulders.

Coincidently, when they found their place with Phil, they had no coffee.

"What'd you do, get swarmed by crazy fangirls?"

Bobbi didn't have an answer for that.

* * *

 **so, one comment this week (thankyou** Pinayprincesa - everything comes to a head in this chapter tension wise :D **)... which is kinda disheartening, i guess. you guys not enjoying this anymore?**

 **hope you liked the update, comment, say hi (i dont really care, just anything is better than nothing), i'll be back with another update next week. (rating is going up to m then)**


	10. Chapter 10

**RAW Live**

 **November 18th**

 **Nashville, Tennessee**

The flight out to Nashville on Monday morning had gone quick, and the next three weeks only held the tapings for the televised events. Monday and Tuesday were RAW and SmackDown respectively, but for the rest of the week, and apart from Survivor Series on Sunday, they had time off.

Bobbi was debating between heading down to the beach house and crashing for a few nights and catching up on some much needed sleep, or heading to Vegas with Dean and the boys.

Dean himself was tempted to head out to a fishing spot near Callville Bay in Lake Mead and wanted everyone to come with him.

The show started at half past 7, so Bobbi sat herself down in front of a broadcasting TV and watched the beginning of the show. The screen was filled with a promo that included the reign of The Shield and The Authority, and showed her taking out multiple people.

By now, the wider WWE universe was beginning to understand that Bobbi's lack of a finisher meant that she usually stole the finisher of the person she was wrestling against — or, in the same way, the person she was fighting. She'd taken Cody Rhodes' Disaster Kick countless times, took out Nikki Bella with her face-buster finisher. Used Seth's curb stomp countless times, had even attempted at one stage Daniel Bryan's knee to the face and his 'yes' lock.

But her style, when they stripped away her gimmick, undeniably showed her ability to wrestle. It was a mix and match of the grittier boxing style, punches and jabs, kicks aimed at the head, footwork that moved her around the ring, and the fast paced wrestling style. The indie circuits had seen her finisher as a simple roundhouse kick.

It was kind of like Kofi Kingston's Trouble in Paradise, but not really. She would launch her body into a spin and then into the air, left foot landing on the side of her opponents neck, right foot snapping against their face. _Enzuigiri._

She was lucky that the top of her heeled boots wasn't capped underneath in metal, that the leather itself was actually soft. Having worn them for four months now meant that they were getting even softer with the impact. Everyone that she wrestled appreciated that.

They weren't in the ring until the very end of the show and that left Bobbi and the boys to their own devices.

"Seriously, I wanna go fishin'," Dean mumbled through a mouthful of the avocado and salmon sandwich. "And you should all be witness to how the fuck I do things, no one's caught more fish at that lake than me."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Dude, no one cares about your fishing."

"No one cares about you," he bit back, face pulling into a frown.

Bobbi cooed at Dean and thrust her bottom lip out, sending him a sympathetic look before clutching his head against her chest. She looked over his fluffy hair and glared at Roman. "Don't be mean, Roman, no one tells you to shut up when you're going on about the NFL."

"You don't even listen to me," Roman replied easily, crooked smirk falling across his lips. "You tune out whenever I start talking about football, probably have no idea who I support."

"That's not true!"

The look Roman sent her easily read 'bitch, please'. She couldn't argue with that, because he was right — she had no _clue_ who he supported. Dean slowly pulled out of her grasp and went back to his sandwich, fingering at the book he was reading.

"The only team _any_ of you should ever think about supporting is the Blackhawks," Phil piped in over her shoulder. She nodded enthusiastically in agreement and raised her fist so he could bump his own against it. "You good for food, Bob?"

"Yeah, not hungry," she replied. Then she frowned, looked over at the catering table. "Actually, no, can you just get me a Gatorade, please?"

"Sure thing, buttercup."

Bobbi sent him a smile and quickly pulled her legs up to her chest, stared across at Seth who was taking no part in the any of their conversations. She turned to look at Dean and leaned in his direction, chin at his shoulder.

"What's up with Rollins?"

Light green eyes met blue as he glanced down at her. The room seemed to still and the breath caught in her throat as his washed over her face, but neither of them broke the intense stare.

Then he shrugged. "Somethin' to do with Leighla, I think."

A cough behind her helped drag her eyes away from his captivating gaze, and then a bottle was tossed over her shoulder. She sent a thankful smile at Phil and ignored the way his gaze questioned what he'd just seen.

"Imma go change into my ring gear," Bobbi announced, wriggling her eyebrows at Roman before moving away from the table.

The walk back to the room was quiet and left her to her own thoughts, and by the time she had pulled the blue wrap crop top on and zipped her vest up, she was being called to get into position at the top.

Waiting in the bleachers was an interesting experience. The fans were screaming with power the moment The Shield stepped through the elevator doors and security helped escort them to the entrance. People would usually hurl insults at them, some of the men defiled Bobbi sexually (much to the boys' disgust), the girls cried in happiness as they were finally able to set their eyes on three of the hottest wrestlers the company had to offer.

More than that, Bobbi had to find her headspace while surrounded by the exact people who already expected her to be in it.

Dean dropped to his fingertips and warmed his body up with a couple of pushups, Roman crouched in the corner and bounced on his haunches. So that left Seth and Bobbi trading a couple of gentle punches.

"I love you, Dean!"

"SEEETH!"

Bobbi rolled her eyes at the voices and the corner of her lips pulled up in a smirk.

A couple of seconds later, they were being pushed through the doors to the sound of their music.

The match was a twelve-man tag that saw The Shield and The Wyatt Family pairing together against the baby faces of the company - CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, the Usos, and the tag team champions; Goldust and Cody Rhodes.

As they finally reached the announcers table, the arena went dark, and the low bass theme song for the Wyatt's filled the arena.

 _Everyone_ was anticipating the teamwork between the two heel teams, tension off the charts the last time they met, and Bobbi could feel the goosebumps raising across her arms as the lights came back on.

Bray and her were able to create _intense_ chemistry because they new how to keep the other in character, but it was already through the roof with the way Dean was shifting his weight from one foot to another as he glared at them. The lights in the arena picked up the shadows under his cheekbones as he smirked.

When Bray motioned to the ring with an open hand, Dean pointed across at him. "You ain't startin' this thing."

As Seth, Dean and Bray jumped up onto the apron, it left Roman and her staring across at the masked man and Luke Harper. Bobbi stepped forward, threw her hands onto her hips. It was a dare.

Her lips pulled up in a smirk when they backed down.

The match started with Jimmy and Dean in the ring. They traded blows back and forth, Jimmy tagging Jey in quickly and Dean taking the opportunity to tag in Roman. When he dropped from the ring altogether, Bray followed him.

Bobbi tore her eyes from the action inside the ring and stopped Bray in his tracks. He glared across at her until she shifted her gaze back to the ring, but she still didn't move out of his way, and eventually he climbed back onto the apron. No words were exchanged, but the encounter was still heated and drew enough attention.

The next couple of minutes passed without anything major, and it wasn't until Harper tagged himself into the match that Bobbi launched off of the barricade again. Quickly, the two teams were face to face. Bobbi pushed herself between the bickering men and pressing a hand against Seth and Bray's chests.

"Forget it!" She yelled, eyes a blaze. "We're not enemies!"

Harper shoved her hand of his leaders chest and Bobbi spun on him, lips pulling back in a snarl. Pushing at his chest, she growled out "Don't _friggin_ ' touch me!"

Somehow, things were able to return to some sort of normalcy.

Bobbi watched with utmost attention as The Shield were able to isolate Cody Rhodes and Dean's hair was starting to fluff up. But the moment that Harper tagged in, he got a boot to the face in the form of a Disaster Kick.

Making the tag to Daniel Bryan, momentum suddenly swung in Bryan's favour. Each of her boys tried to run interference, but each was pushed from the ring, and it left Bobbi pacing anxiously along the outside by herself — until Harper managed to power-bomb the superstar and tag in the cult leader.

Describe as maniacal and hypnotic, Bray was exactly that, easily delivering some of the best promos the WWE had ever seen and backing it up with the way that he acted in the ring.

He reached out to Roman once control of the match was taken, the 'olive branch' that the teams needed. Bobbi scoffed at Michael Cole's commentary.

Slowly, the two teams began to work together in sync.

But it didn't really matter once Punk took control and eventually managed to hit Dean with a GTS, winning the whole match extremely cleanly.

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **November 19th**

 **Atlanta, Georgia**

Vince called Bobbi into a meeting at the arena the next day.

"Thanks for joining me, Bobbi!"

She smiled at the older man and tilted her head in a frown. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

Vince laughed at her and shook his head, gentle smile playing on his face. "No, no, not yet. I called you in here today because the stand off you guys had with The Wyatt Family when you were in RAW was _outstanding._ We're gonna go down that path soon, but what I think would work best, especially with you being the only female involved in the feud, is to bring in someone else."

Another frown lined her face, but Vince let her think about what he was implying. And then a small grin began to tug at the corner of her lips. "You're… you're gonna bring in Sister Abigail, aren't you?"

He nodded enthusiastically and rubbed his hands together, fitting the role of an evil mastermind _perfectly_. "I know exactly who I'd like to give the promotion to, but I'd like to seek your approval first."

She stared at him completely dumbfounded. _He_ wanted _her_ okay on things? "Are you sure? I'm sure whoever you've chosen is going to be just right…"

Smiling at her faith in him, he shook his head. "You know her. You two have insane in-ring chemistry and we want to use that to spice up the Diva's division once the factions inevitably split. We'll send her down to developmental for a couple of months while we develop the Wyatt's story-line, but when she's ready, she'll come up and debut against you and The Shield."

Now she was intrigued. "Okay, you have my attention."

Vince shot her another smile and pressed a button on his desk, telling his assistant that he was ready. But, in no way would Bobbi be ready.

There was a knock on the door and Bobbi lurched up straight in her seat as she turned to stared at the other woman now in the room. A long puckered scar pulled down across her forearm, tanned skin glowing healthy under the harsh office lights. Her eyes, a dark mahogany brown, were framed with dark kohl and her usually long, brown hair had been cut back to her shoulders. And, _God_ , she looked so different, so much more fit, but still so much the same.

"Filipa?"

The woman in question smiled shyly at Bobbi and then raised her shoulders. "Hey, Bob."

"Holy shit," she murmured under her breath, but she didn't get up because she was in too much shock.

It had been more than five years since Bobbi had even seen Filipa, let alone talked to her, and she'd never shown or even contemplated finding the footage of their matches, but somehow, Vince had found this specimen of a wrestler and offered her the spot of Sister Abigail - something she would fit very well in.

When she looked back at her boss, he _definitely_ looked every part of an evil mastermind, but he also looked a bit worried.

"How'd I go?"

And considering the only thing Bobbi could think was _holy shit, holy fucking shit,_ she just nodded and smiled. Somehow, she made it through the meeting and details floated in and out of her ears, but that wasn't important, because one of her closest friends was sitting right across from her. The same close friend that deserted her when emotions became too much.

The thing about Filipa was that she was _extremely_ shy, very touchy feely, didn't talk much. But she _listened_. And she gave good fucking advice, and when it was needed, she calmed everyone the fuck down.

For the five years after Bobbi had left her bastard of an ex, Filipa had been her rock. They'd pulled off amazing matches together, teamed against male wrestlers to win, changed the perception of women wrestlers in a lot of the indie businesses. But Filipa also felt her emotions strongly, and when it became too much, she'd shut down, lock herself away. And that had happened when both of her parents had been tragically killed in a car accident.

Bobbi hadn't seen her since that day.

So when they walked out of the meeting, side by side, Bobbi wrapped her arms around her friend and pulled her into a crushing hug.

Thankfully, it was returned.

Pulling away and cupping Filipa's face in her hands, she murmured a soft, "Are you back?" and had to restrain her tears when the woman simply nodded.

—

The match against the Uso's and Rey Mysterio capped off the end of their working week, and by the end of SmackDown, Bobbi and the boys were saying goodbye to their friends.

Somehow — _somehow_ — Dean had finally managed to convince everyone to fly back to Vegas with him and crash for the rest of their 'weekend' as his apartment. Friday, Seth would fly back to Davenport, Roman would leave for Pensacola, and Bobbi would go back to Chicago and catch up with Filipa properly.

So that's where she found herself on Thursday morning, shifting in the blankets with an arm thrown across her face. Bobbi had opted to sleep on the couch, the three other boys taking up separate rooms.

Dean flopped himself next to her on the bed. "I wanna go fishin' this morning, doll."

"Yeah?"

She could feel him enthusiastically nodding. "Seth and Ro took off for the gym earlier and Seth left some coffee for you on the table, so rise and shine, sweetheart. We got ourselves a lake to fish."

Groaning and rolling over onto her stomach, Bobbi mumbled incoherently against the pillow. Not typically a morning person until coffee got into her system and some food into her stomach, it took the woman around an hour to actually get ready.

"Bobbi…"

A groan came as her reply.

"Barbara."

"What."

A gentle hand began to caress her shoulder and Bobbi sighed into the pillow. She didn't want to get up, she was _exhausted_ , and she didn't really want to spend the day sitting out in the sun fishing. No, thank-you.

When her body relaxed against his touch, Dean shifted on the bed.

"…Dean?"

Bobbi forced the noise out through her mouth when he threw a leg over her back. There was a mug of coffee shoved under her nose and she finally arched her chest off the bed, taking the cup and greedily gulping in a mouthful.

She moaned at the taste and dropped her head back onto the pillow, but Dean made no move to get off her.

Instead, his hands crawled under her top, lifted the soft fabric up so that he had a clear view of her smooth, milky skin. His fingertips crawled along her skin, slowly massaging the recovering bruises, tracing them across her scars.

"What're you doing?"

Bobbi's voice was hushed, husky with sleep. But also husky with arousal. Because where ever he had learnt to do that… it was soft and breath-taking.

"Where'd you get these?" He asked slowly.

She didn't reply. The scars weren't up for discussion now, and they wouldn't be up for discussion anytime soon.

So she gulped another large mouthful of coffee and lifted her hips off the mattress to grind her ass against Dean. His breath came out of his mouth in a rush, hands moving to grip her waist and stop her movements.

"You avoiding my question, Bob?"

"Dean…" she sighed and her head flopped down onto the pillow again. "My scars are off limits. The reason they're white is because they happened so long ago, the one above my tail bone is from Chicago, the long one is from a couple of months I spent in Texas."

"Wrestling?"

"Fighting."

Slowly the grip on her skin eased off and she looked over her shoulder at the man who was still sitting on her. His eyes burned, stubble shadowing his jaw, lips pursed. She knew that look; _did he want to push for more answers, or did he want to leave it?_

"Why won't you let me in?" Dean mumbled softly. His brows creased in confusion and his head tilted and he looked a little hurt, but Bobbi didn't want to go there. Not yet.

"It's my…" she paused, looked away from his beautiful blue eyes, "It's my history, Dean. It's there for a reason. I don't want to relive it, okay?"

She felt him slowly move off of her, and then he fell onto his arms next to her.

"But your past makes you who you are, kitten." Dean grabbed the coffee from her hands and took a sip. "There'd be no you without what you went through, y'know?"

Bobbi did know. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why?"

"Because it's not important. I got thrown into the wrong crowd, I was vulnerable, I was taken advantage of, I _don't want to relieve that_."

Dean gazed across at her with eyes that were both understanding and inquisitive. But he was searching for information and he wanted whatever he could get his hands on. He'd known Bobbi for just over four months and he knew little to nothing about her, apart from the fact that she had a thing for him and a dickhead of a brother.

"Tell me about Filipa, then."

A grin finally tugged at her lips. Now _this_ was something she could talk about. "What about her?"

"She single? Have any crazy siblings? How'd you two meet?"

"She's a single pringle," Bobbi chuckled at her pillow, no long looking at Dean. "No crazy siblings, just her. She was close with her parents until they died, kept my company until then. I started at a place called Lake Side War, a wrestling company that was all about equality between the females and the males. Like, anything a male wrestler could do, we could do, y'know?"

Nodding, a smile filtered across his features as Bobbi continued. "So, we hit it off. We were complete opposites, but somehow, we attracted each other. She was the quiet reader, someone who was happy to observe rather than drown in the spotlight, and she had this ability to read people like I did. Filipa… she was like a breath of fresh air. I was loud and partying and pushing the envelope and we were like chalk and cheese, but she was my rock and what kept me going more than anything else."

"What happened? You said on Tuesday that you hadn't seen her for five years."

"Her parents happened."

 _Ah_. Dean made a noise of understanding and she finally looked back up to meet his eyes. "Their death hit Filipa harder than anything I'd ever seen. She completely shut down, disconnected everything, left and cut all loose ends. Last time I saw her was when she came to wish me luck for my match. And then she was gone."

The room descended into silence, but they hadn't stopped staring at each other.

With the way that Dean was looking at her, heat started to pool in her gut. She felt like he was slowly picking her apart, string by string.

"What?" Bobbi breathed out.

His voice was quiet when he replied, breathy. "I want to fuck you."

If Bobbi's thoughts could be read out loud, there would be nothing except dots. Because… _what_? When? Why? Her breath caught in her throat as his eyes darkened and then he reached for the coffee mug again, reaching over her to lay it on the ground.

And then his lips were on hers, commanding and needy, pressing her head back into the soft pillow.

Bobbi arched her back to curve along his torso and his hand pushed the covers away to find the small of her back. He shifted her so that she was on her back, and almost immediately his free hand was yanking down the cotton shorts around her hips.

Tangling her hand in his hair and digging her nails into the skin on his back, Bobbi kissed back just as hard. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and bit down harshly on her bottom lip, pulling back and dragging it with him.

Dean's eyes latched onto her face to watch her reaction as his hands pushed into her underwear, rough fingers brushing against her folds. Her mouth dropped, breath coming in a rush, and her entire body quivered under his touch; it had been so long since she'd been touched like this, let alone been touched by someone she was pinning after.

"Oh… my God," Bobbi rasped in pleasure.

His fingers moved slowly against her skin as he shifted his other leg over her body. And then he moved down the bed, stubble brushing against her tender skin as he pressed his lips against the dips of her torso.

Shifting back up, his hands slipped under her top, pulled it over her head. He ducked down, sucked the skin of her breast into his mouth and bit down, eliciting a long moan from the back of Bobbi's throat. Her back arched up again and her hands tangled in his hair, holding his face against her chest, and he kissed and licked at the spot until the skin was sporting a purple bruise.

He trailed his mouth along her chest and sucked and bit and licked and kissed until she was panting and his fingers were pressed against her folds but only softly stroking.

Bobbi writhed under his body and when he sucked her nipple between his lips, rolling his tongue over the hard bud, she cried out in a mix of frustration and pleasure.

"Fuck," she managed to get out between her heaving breaths, "fucking— Dean— just—"

Blue eyes that weren't even blue found hers as she looked down and the noise that he made at the back of his throat was like a delicacy to her ears that had her toes curling.

But he only shifted further down, running his lips against her quivering stomach, pressing them against the inside of her spread thighs, continuing his bruising work along her tender skin. When he sunk his teeth just left of where his fingers were still teasing Bobbi, she thrashed her legs and tried to drag his face closer, but his hands tightened their grip on her hips to such an extent that she knew she was going to bruise.

Managing to push out a rushed "you're killing me", the sound of his name died in her throat when he finally replaced his hand with his mouth.

The air she was desperately trying to suck into her lungs wasn't coming until, with a laboured breath, she clutched the soft curls of his hair and pushed her hips up into his face, and _fuck_ he was doing things with his tongue that had her writhing under his body.

She was completely and utterly at Dean's disposal.

His hands slackened against her hips and he pushed her leg up to hook a knee across his shoulder, and when he was moving back up, it came with him.

With glazed eyes and flushed cheeks, the pair looked at each other. There was something haunting about the way Bobbi's pale green eyes held Dean's, and he bent down slowly to press his lips against hers once more.

She reached down, wrapped a hand around him, guided him to her entrance, and then with a slow thrust, he pushed into her.

Bobbi's eyes rolled into the back of her head.

He stretched her, filled her completely, warm and hard and pressured against her walls, and Dean dropped his head into the curve of her neck as he slowly began to move in and out of her.

"So fuckin' good," he mouthed against her throat, "you taste so fuckin' good, n' feel even better."

There was both pleasure and pressure building up in her lower stomach and his hands were against her hip and rolling her nipple between his fingers. Somehow the nook of his elbow had hooked around her knee and her leg was kept level with his shoulder for a better angle, and there were these noises at the back of Dean's throat that had her eyes rolling back, but she met him thrust for thrust and pushed her body up along his. One of her arms was thrown over his back, nails digging into the muscle of his ass, and the other was holding the back of his neck and twisting harshly through his curls.

But then the noise of the elevator arriving dinged through the level, their two stablemates and friends' voices floating through the front door.

Dean rushed a hand over her mouth, halting in his movements, and all but collapsed on top of her. Her hamstring was screaming with the stretch but she didn't dare move, because if those two boys came walking through that door, they would _never_ live this down.

Her breaths came out in quick rushes against his fingers. Blue eyes gazed down at her, but they were hooded and misty with lust and passion. She ached to arch back up into his touch and she was throbbing where he was still in her. But she couldn't move. She couldn't. She wasn't ready for this… _secret_ of theirs to get out like _this_. If it even was a secret.

Seth's voice floated through the door when his knocking went unanswered. "They're probably fishing or something. Let's just go down to the pool and cool off for a bit, they should be back before dark."

"I'm not lounging around until sunset."

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

There was silence.

"Okay, well, we go down to the pool and call Dean and tell 'im to get his fucking ass back here to let us in."

Then, they were gone.

Before Bobbi could even sigh in relief, Dean was picking up right where he left off, the steady rhythm drawing gasps and moans from Bobbi's throat as she mouthed his name.

Her head fell back onto the pillow for the last time and Dean pressed his stubbled cheek to her neck.

"C'mon, Bob," he breathed, "you even trying?"

The woman in question pushed a growl from her lips and somehow flipped them, and then she was rolling her hips against his as she began to ride him.

Dean's eyes closed and his mouth dropped and Bobbi took the time to memorise the way his fluffy blonde hair fell across his forehead, the way his muscled chest flexed as he reached out to hold her waist, the way his arms had prominent veins close to the surface of his skin in effort. He looked delectable under Bobbi like this.

Bouncing now, Bobbi didn't take her time in drawing the position to a close, rode out her orgasm to her control, one that ripped through her lungs and tore the breath out of them, one that saw her body and legs shaking with effort, and then let Dean flip her back over so he could finish the way he wanted to.

He was panting when he pulled out of her.

Pressing a kiss to her throat and then collapsing beside her, Dean's eyes were drooping with exhaustion, and Bobbi couldn't help the bubble of laughter that crept up her throat.

"What's so funny?" Dean moaned against her shoulder.

"You look like you've just run a marathon…"

He sent her a glare and reached up to kiss her one last time before getting up. And when he looked back down at her stark naked body, she raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"You, uh…" he paused and looked away sheepishly. "Might wanna go check yourself out in the mirror."

Bobbi frowned, pulled her underwear back on and walked to the bathroom, not really knowing what to expect. Until her eyes saw her reflection.

"What… the… _fuck…_ **DEAN!** "

* * *

 **guys. im doing the thing. i was watching The Shield vs The Wyatt for the November 11th brawl and i was thinking how the hell am i gonna in corporate bobbi into this?! like three on four? no way. and then i realised… what if i introduce a fourth member to the wyatt family? what if i bring in their saviour? what if i bring in fucking sister abigail? LIKE FUCK YEAH THATS WHAT IM GONNA DO. (also _Lake Side War_ is completely fictional and doesn't exist)**

 **also, bonus sexy times? bout time, right?**

 **TO MY LOVELY REVIEWERS;** guest (#1): HI FRIEND! thank you so much! made my day :) ; Pinayprincesa: is it love or lust?! hmmm we'll see won't we ;) ; guest (#2): hope you're not disappointed that there's no slammys - i've actually just finished writing that chapter and that's up the one after next! i'm glad you find Bobbi here refreshing, kinda what I was going for and glad you got that vibe! ; last but not least, wwemicky: i absolutely love you for loving this!

 **anyhow, drop a comment and i'll give you unconditional love**


	11. Chapter 11

All down her chest, peppered across her left breast, down the line of her stomach, even along the inside of her right thigh — she was _littered_ with dark red hickeys that stood out against her milky tone.

Bobbi saw his reflection in the mirror and growled loudly. "I'm actually going to kill you, you know how much fucking grief I'm gonna get over this?! Like, did you fucking even _think_ that I wrestle for a living? In front of both a live audience and fucking millions of people who watch the Goddamned show— the fuck is your toothpaste?!"

Dean laughed lowly at her outburst and waltzed forwards to reach around her body, opening the mirror cabinet and giving her the tube.

"Good thing your ring gear covers that up then, huh?"

The look she sent him could have turned Medusa to stone.

When she started rubbing the toothpaste itself along the bruises, Dean's face creased in confusion. "What are you doin'?"

"Toothpaste helps get rid of them quicker," she muttered. She sent him another glare. "Now go, get out."

Together, when Bobbi was done massaging the toothpaste from her body with a warm washcloth, they made the fold out bed and pushed it back together into the couch. Bobbi had pulled on some shorts and was walking around barefoot, bra clasped and in place under her sleeping top, and Dean was walking around topless with some gym pants on; even though it was leading into winter, the weather was still hot enough not to worry about being cold.

Dean checked his phone, smirk pulling the corners of his mouth up, and he then trailed his blue eyes over the length of Bobbi's body. "You wanna go swimming?"

"Totally," Bobbi deadpanned him. She lifted up the hem of her shirt and glanced at the thin patter of bruises that lined her stomach. "Because they won't ask questions."

"I don't really care if they know."

Pale green eyes met blue and when Bobbi's narrowed, Dean couldn't hide his proud grin any longer. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?"

His lack of response answered the question.

"You're such a shit, you know that?"

"And apparently insatiable."

Bobbi dropped her clothes on the bed and stalked over to him, watching with joy as he suddenly became cautious of her intentions. Dean backed up until he hit the kitchen bench.

"Bob— Bobbi, c'mon-"

His words stopped dead in his throat as her lips attached to the side of his neck, biting harder than she probably should have, sucking stubble covered skin into her mouth, running her tongue over his neck. At the same time he moved to push her away, Bobbi moved a hand to palm against his crotch, softly yet firmly at the same time.

And Dean turned to putty under her control.

When Bobbi pulled away, his mouth was gaping, eyes closed, erection growing in his shorts, chest rising and falling heavily.

His clouded blue eyes flew open and locked onto her obviously proud face, gaze trailing over her smirking lips and shining eyes. She was proud of the effect she had on him and she would show it to the world.

"You're killin' me here, Bob," he murmured lowly.

But she turned on her heel, walked across to the other side of the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. Bobbi placed a hand under her chin comprehensively and sent a look at Dean. "You wanna go for that swim?"

He was after her then, dashing towards her with purpose and intention that was less than pure. So Bobbi squealed, put some distance between her and the man chasing after her.

Giggling and pushing through the front door, Bobbi tore down the staircase with him hot on her heels.

"Get your ass back here, Arlett!"

"Not a fucking snowballs chance in hell!"

"Fuckin'— _Arlett! STOP RUNNING!_ "

Bobbi slammed her shoulder into the fire escape door and sped across the level until the pool was looming in front of her.

The noise they were making elicited both Seth and Ro's attention and then Bobbi was running to hide behind the large Samoan, breath coming in puffs, hands shaking.

"What the hell?" Seth's voice hushed the two, and Bobbi was breathing heavily through her mouth as she sent him a smile. His eyes trailed across the obvious love bites and then left her figure to stare at the large one forming on Dean's throat. "What the actual fuck, Dean? What's going on?"

"She's a fuckin' tease is what's happening," Dean growled out, but his eyes were glinting playfully.

Seth's eyes moved back to her and Roman followed suit. She shrugged. "He's a little shit who _knows_ that I wrestle for a living and use my body for a job and he couldn't fucking put them in a spot where they wouldn't be found."

"Baby girl…" Ro shook his head and a deep bubble of laughter started in his chest. "I got your back, you got every right to be mad at that asshole."

Bobbi poked her tongue out at Dean in success.

(He ended up throwing her into the cold pool and then followed when Seth shoved him.)

—

 **RAW Live**

 **November 25th**

 **Uniondale, New York**

Somehow, Seth and Roman had managed to keep their big mouths shut about what they'd been witness to. None of them had made a move to talk to her about it, but they shared knowing looks whenever Dean's hand lingered too long or when they engaged in a haunting look.

"So," Bobbi drawled to Shannon as she plopped down on the chair. "What can your beautiful, golden, wonderful soul do to make these disappear?"

Shannon sent the Diva a confused look, but when Bobbi revealed the group of barely-there hickeys that spanned down her stomach and across her breast, her eyes almost rolled back into her head in exasperation.

By the time Shannon was done with the coverup, Bobbi looked almost brand new. She smiled at the stylist in appreciation and then waltzed back off down the corridor towards where her boys were waiting.

Five minutes later, a heavy guitar riff overtook the arena and The Shield jumped the barricade, Bobbi moving into the ring first. She slapped Roman's chest, grabbing a smile out of him.

"Last night's just a friggin' _preview_!" Bobbi yelled in confidence.

As their opponents approached the ring, the sole female slipped out and resumed her barricade position. She was smug and rightfully so, because Roman had eliminated not one, but _four_ of their competitors in the traditional Survivor Series match last night. She felt like prancing around the ring and shaking her hips and it was just one of _those_ moods because the night had gone so explicitly well.

Ears picking up the commentators talking about Roman's impact on the match, Bobbi turned to shoot a cocky grin at Michael Cole.

Her boys dominated from the get-go of the match and even if she wanted to cause a disqualification, she knew that she wouldn't have to.

They were able to isolate Goldust for a while, keeping him from tagging in either one of his partners, and Bobbi watched attentively as Dean followed him to the ropes to push a knee into his stomach. It _was_ becoming a vintage Dean Ambrose move, as were his jabs and backhands, and he reached across to tag Roman in.

Seth was in shortly after a double DDT to both Roman and Dean and Bobbi pushed off the barricade as she watched the two-toned man and Rey Mysterio go back and forth, the latter taking a fast-paced control of his opponent.

"Get up!" Bobbi yelled in Ro's face, pushing him to walk around to the other side of the ring. " _Get up and stop him!"_

And he did.

When Mysterio was lining up to hit a 619 on Seth's beautiful face, when Seth was able to bounce back and hit him with a cross body that had both men sprawled, Reigns ducked to apron height and hid in waiting.

There was a tag made to Ambrose and Rhodes at the same time and then Rhodes was quick to take control. A missile dropkick, a jab to the face, a quick and technically perfect roll up.

" ** _Ambrose!_** " Bobbi yelled as loud as she could, " _get your ass back into gear!_ "

Roman dived into the ring then to disrupt the cover, Dean rolling out, and Mysterio came in to even out the numbers, eventually sending Roman over the top rope. Seth jumped in, ended up being thrown onto his neck on the middle rope as Mysterio set up for another 619.

But as he bounced off the ropes and looked ready to deliver, Roman drove his shoulder into his abdomen, flying into the ring to almost break the smaller man in half with a devastating spear.

And then as he and Goldust bounced on opposite ropes, Roman executed another spear into the bizarre one.

That set the end of the match.

Rhodes hit Roman in the side of the head with a deafening Disaster Kick. But with the numbers now two-on-one in favour of Seth and Dean, Cody Rhodes was put down with a forehead first DDT. _One, two, three_. They'd won, convincingly and without distraction.

Bobbi flew into the ring and happily handed the United States title back to Dean, moved to help Roman get back into the ring, slapped Seth's outstretched hand and yelled in success.

Their fists joined together and a smirk lined Bobbi's smug face.

—

They weren't set to go on for another hour and a half, but when they did, it was to attack one of Bobbi's closest friends. CM Punk.

He was in a three-on-two match that was _not_ in favour of either Punk or Bryan, and she and the boys were crouched in the time-keepers area to avoid being caught by the cameras and the majority of the crowd.

Bobbi's hair was still slicked back in a high pony tail and the new adjustments to her vest showed off more cleavage. She glared across at Dean when he smirked at the spot he knew hickeys spanned across the top of her breast.

When the bell next to their heads dinged, Roman slowly crept his way along the barricades and the three followed him, Bobbi rounding the group up.

As Punk slid from the ring to run after Bryan, who had been thrown over the shoulder of Rowan and carted off with The Wyatt Family, Roman dived out of no where and almost split Punk's body in half with a shattering spear.

Seth walked into the frame, Dean following shortly after. There was a flash of silver and black hair and then the titantron showed Bobbi bending down over Punk's broken body.

"We ain't The Wyatt Family," she laughed, "we're worse."

"Your dealing with The Shield now, son," Roman quipped.

He met Bobbi's sparkling eyes and smirked, shrugged his shoulders, and when she looked at Seth, he was waiting for her actions.

Lifting her arms and hands in a thumbs up, Bobbi's pale green eyes dropped to the body below them and a vicious smirk pulled across her lips as she turned her wrist thumbs down. "You learn to _stay down_ ," Bobbi said loud enough for the cameras to pick up.

Dean and Seth grabbed Punk, rolled him into the ring, and then hit the triple power bomb his already lifeless body.

Their fists joined again above his figure and the lone female was almost cackling with pride and happiness.

Seth was the first from the ring, Dean and Roman slowly following, and Bobbi sent one last look over her shoulder, sending the fallen superstar a cute little kiss.

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **November 26th**

 **Uncasville, Connecticut**

It was weird.

Filipa was down in Tampa to hone her in-ring skills and Phil and Bray were cautious around her new group of friends. Not that they didn't like Dean, Seth and Ro, but because they didn't like how she was acting — distanced and barely talking to them.

And not to mention Barrett was out on personal leave, something about a discrepancy with his visa, but no doubt when he got back, he'd be able to smell the sex radiating off of Dean and Bobbi.

And it _was_ weird.

Because she could act herself around Dean one minute and then be on her back with him hovering over her, or she'd be doing a round of pull-ups and feel his lips on her back. He would go an hour without even looking at her and then stare at her for the next two. He was unpredictable, spontaneous. And Bobbi _liked_ it.

Seth was still acting differently as well. Leighla had been distant and he'd taken it to heart, and next week she was supposed to be travelling with them but Bobbi didn't even know whether that was happening anymore.

Bobbi was set to star in the main event of SmackDown and she'd sent Stephanie a quick message earlier in the day, checking that it was okay to take her vest off. They'd given her dark blue wrap crop top a bit of an update, put an imprint of The Shield's logo on the dog tags that she'd wear around her neck. They settled gently into the space between her breasts.

While Dean sat on commentary for the bout between the Rhodes brothers and the ex-tag team champions, Bobbi was on her usual spot on the barricade. She had her five inch, thick-heeled boots on and the tight vest in place, and her hair was wavy at the ends.

Shannon had taken the opportunity to add a shit tonne of volume to the usually thin hair, again preaching that it looked 'jaw-dropping' when she flipped her head and had silver and black hair everywhere.

The stylist was also tossing up the idea of teasing her hair into loose dreadlocks, but Stephanie had almost had a conniption when she'd caught wind of it.

When Rhodes lined up to hit Seth with a Cross Rhodes, Bobbi leapt into the ring and at the last second slammed a flying knee across his jaw.

 _"That's our girl,_ " Ambrose gloated proudly into the mouth piece before throwing it off his head and onto the table.

He quickly joined her as they stomped on the fallen superstar.

But when CM Punk's theme blared through the arena, when the audience went _nuts_ , Bobbi slipped from the ring to act more as a distraction than anything. Roman jogged to stand beside her, but then there was a chair to his stomach and a smack as Punk brought it down on his back. He didn't even _hesitate_ when he did the exact same to the lone female.

Pain exploded across the expanse of her back and she collapsed onto the ground, shrieking loudly.

Trying to push back to her feet, she felt Roman's hands under her arms as he effortlessly lifted her struggling figure. He grabbed her face in his hands and they shared a grimace, but she was still clutching her back in pain.

"Gotta keep going," he said loudly, and the few fans that were focused on them booed their relentless attitude. "Gotta get right back up."

"Friggin' tell me what to do." hissed Bobbi, and then she looked back over to where Dean and Seth were standing. "Such a baby, can't even freakin' take a chair hit."

Reigns chuckled at her snarky response and slowly they walked over to join the rest of their faction.

As soon as they stood together, Seth gave a quick slap to her arm and Dean pulled her to his side, hand gripping the back of her neck through the mess of waves.

"Excuse me," Vicki Guerrero's broke out over the arena, her face filling the titantron. " _Excuse_ me, Punk! You want to get to The Shield _so badly_ you want to be put in action? Fine. Put the chair down, this match is now a six-man tag-team match."

The crowd went crazy and Bobbi dropped onto her haunches, pale green eyes glaring daggers at the obviously happy Punk.

Dean, because he was fresh, started in the ring against CM Punk who came out like a kid at a toy store. The three men on that side of the ring managed to isolate the United States Champion, each of them getting a turn to inflict some pain on someone who seemed to thrive off it.

He managed to quickly dodge CM Punk's high knee and stumbled to tag Seth in.

It was a fairly even back and forth match until the lights flashed out to the sound of The Wyatt Family's theme. And then things descended into an organised chaos.

Bobbi stared through the ring at the leader of the family, pale green eyes finding Bray Wyatt in a haze of anger and disbelief. They rushed forward, dragging Goldust and Cody Rhodes of the apron so they couldn't make a tag to Punk.

As soon as the bell rung in disqualification, Bobbi slid into the ring and went on the attack with Roman. She drove her boot into Punk's side again and again and again, and then helped Reigns drag him back to the corner turnbuckle.

Getting in his face, Bobbi shoved at his chest, yelled "what're ya gon' do, huh", laughed as Roman drove his fist into his chest.

And then the Uso's were running out, taking it to both Erick Rowan and Luke Harper (aka the man that Bobbi referred to as the Yeti whenever he made that noise with his mouth). Rey Mysterio quickly followed suit, and it wasn't until he had Seth thrown against the ropes and set up for a 619 that Vicki Guerrero graced the audience with her presence.

" _Excuse me!_ ** _Excuse me!_** **"** Vicki screamed, "No, _no,_ **_no! EXCUSE ME_**! This chaos will not continue! Not on _my_ show, _not_ on SmackDown! I demand **order**!" The faces stood in the ring, Bobbi on the outside with her hand curled into Roman's vest. "Because it seems that you can't keep yourself under control, Bobbi," Vicki screeched louder, and Bobbi feigned a look of innocence, "you'll get your wish **granted**! This match will be restarted as seven-on-six handicap tag-team match with Bobbi Arlett being the seventh member alongside The Shield and The Wyatt Family!"

Bobbi's eyes almost fell out of her head.

"No, no, no, no," Seth yelled out, and Bobbi was tempted to whack him upside the back of his head. "Seriously! What's she mean, a 13-person tag match?!"

Roman slapped his hand against Bobbi's vested shoulder, a man in the crowd near her shouting "take it off!", and her wide eyes met Dean's. Bouncing up and down on the ground, Bobbi shook out her arms and tried to get the blood flowing.

But when she looked up, Bray Wyatt was standing in front of her.

"You gotta trust us, sweetheart," he laughed, "we can _help_ you."

She just glared at him.

The impromptu match started with Dean and then Luke Harper was in, and Bobbi stood well off to the side to avoid any mistaken tag-ins. Bray wasn't in the mood for pleasantries tonight. He was vicious and he was without remorse. He was intense. Captivating. _Scary_.

Dean tagged in to the sound of the Yeti-man, "yeah-ah-ah-aaaah" and Bobbi had to fight the smile from her face.

Eventually the ring was flooded with the superstars to save a pin. The Rhodes brothers sent Dean and Seth over the top rope, Reigns catching Goldust in a spear, the Uso twins smacking their heels against his chin. They worked in tandem to do the same to Harper, and then they flew out land cross-bodies on Bray Wyatt and Harper.

But Bobbi was still up on the apron and when Rowan lurched from his spot for her body, she didn't move.

The crowd hushed as they realised that Rowan's flailing hand had caught Bobbi — she'd been tagged into an all-male match. And there was no one that she could tag back, because they'd all been tossed off the apron. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Punk, but then her lips pursed and she set her jaw. _Okay, she could make this work._

The fact that Bobbi was lighter and more agile than her male counterpart meant that her attacks had to be quick and accurate. She'd use her legs, keep enough distance between them, constantly bounce around the ring and try and tire him out.

This was possible. She could hold her own if she kept things at her pace.

It was like Rey Mysterio going up against another wrestler, right? As long as she could bounce back after a couple of hits, she'd be able to last long enough to get someone else back in.

She stared across at Punk as he let her climb into the ring, and straight away she was pulled into a headlock. But she knew the counter for this, so Bobbi dropped to her knee and brought his chin down on her shoulder in a jaw-breaker. When he stumbled back, Bobbi took the opportunity to launch into a series of accurate and well thought out kicks. She bounced back and forth, side kick to his left thigh, side kick to his right thigh, then a cracking super-kick that threw Punk off his feet.

" _I don't wear these for nothing!_ " Bobbi screamed at the audience, pointing down to the heavy boots on her feet.

She dashed forward when her opponent gained his feet, running away from him to plant her foot on the middle turnbuckle, then throwing her weight back to slam her knee across his face.

But everyone was still recovering, and Bobbi had a way to go yet before she could even dream of tagging any of her male counterparts in.

Fingers playing with the buckles across her chest and the zip, she pulled the vest off of her body completely, pushing the few wolf whistles from her mind as she sized up her male opponent. Mysterio was crawling back onto the mat and staring at the contest with wide eyes.

Punk on his back? Bobbi standing without a scratch on her?

Her back was still aching from the chair shot she'd received from CM Punk and her stomach showed the red line from where he'd shoved it into her abdomen.

The enzuigiri finisher wouldn't work on Punk. So she climbed to the top rope while he was still down and recovering, launched off of it to land her elbow into his heart in a move that was considered 'vintage' Punk.

Keeping her offensive game strong, she dropped knee after knee into his head. And when she looked over her shoulder at a screaming Bray Wyatt, begging to be tagged in, she didn't listen to him.

Wyatt stormed into the ring and shoved her away from Punk's body, setting him up for the Sister Abigail finisher, but Bobbi was _furious_. Her eyes flared as she caught herself against the top rope, and then she ran to throw her legs up against his chest in a dropkick.

She followed him out of the ring as she tagged Rowan back in.

"Who the _hell_ do you think you are?!" Bobbi growled as she pushed against Bray's chest. "I'll tag you in when you're friggin' deserving to come in, you got it?!"

But his eyes were just as firey as hers. "You touch me like that again, Arlett, and it'll be the last thing you do."

Throwing her arms out wide, Bobbi stood confidently. "Do your worst."

There was a hand against her stomach then and Dean was slowly dragging her back from the volatile encounter that could have become very dangerous very quickly.

As Punk hit Rowan with a GTS, Dean and Bobbi stalked back to where the rest of their stable was.

—

It wasn't like Bobbi was built like a man. Her muscles were surprisingly seductive, all soft looking and smooth, and she was still extremely feminine. So while Dean got mad that the male part of the audience began to look at her more like a piece of meat than with respect, he could easily understand why they did so. Decent boob size, curvaceous ass, long legs — okay, he could _definitely_ understand. She knew with Filipa back in the picture now that she'd have to lose a lot of her muscle weight and replace it with cardio conditioning; the matches they put on were more endurance than strength.

She hugged Phil and then turned to say goodbye to Bray, but his eyes were on her chest and she knew _exactly_ what he was focusing on.

"Not anyone we know, yeah?"

She didn't answer him. She couldn't if she wanted to be truthful.

"Doll…" his voice was cautious, like he knew the answer but he didn't want to say anything. "Please don't tell me you're doing something stupid…"

Bobbi's jaw jutted out and she looked up at him defiantly. "I know exactly what I'm doing Bray, and I've told him and he understands and he's okay with it."

"It's how it always starts, doll."

"It's different, okay?"

"How?"

Bobbi paused and looked over his shoulder at the man who was waiting for her, blue eyes down on his phone.

"It's not a game," she murmured. "It's not a conquest. It's just…"

"If you're not ready for a relationship, Bob, and I don't think you will be anytime soon after what Barrett did, then don't lead him on."

"For fucks sake, Bray, it's been four fucking years," she hissed out. "So while I don't know him well enough or haven't been around him long enough, it would be _stupid_ to waste an opportunity for a good time."

Bray's stare was too much for Bobbi too handle, and his next words filtered in one ear and out the other. "Bobbi, I know you think you're doin' the right thing, doll, but he's gonna sooner or later find out about everything and it won't be pretty once he does…"

Bobbi's hand tightened around the strap of her duffle bag. "Thanks for your concern, Bray. I'll see you on Monday."

* * *

 **thank you to my lovely commenters;** **Raquel the writer** (you're awesome), **Guest reviewer** (still no Slammy's! don't worry, they're here next update :) Bobbi and Dean are my fav (im not biased at all) tbh, and Bobbi's past will come up sooner or later heh), **KairiAnneYukari21** (sexy times are the bomb) **and R1verdance** (just uploaded the chapter and realised you reviewed omg it made my night! i want them all too, they're so hot omg. hope you enjoyed this one!)

 **hope you enjoyed this little nugget as well as seeing Bobbi wrestle a bit more, tried to put in more of her wrestling style as well :) drop a comment and i will give you unrequited love and support :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**RAW Live**

 **December 2nd**

 **Oklahoma City, Oklahoma**

She'd avoided contact with everyone else for the rest of the week, finding solitude in her home something relaxing and exactly what she needed.

Bray had tried calling her, sent her a couple of text messages that read _I'm sorry, doll_ or something very similar to that. But Bobbi was only mad because he didn't trust her. Like _she_ was the one that had done something wrong when it came to Wade Barrett, not him. Like it was solely _her_ fault.

 _It wasn't_.

But while she'd been avoiding everyone, that included Dean — and he wasn't happy about it. Their text messages had been few and far in between, but he got the general gist that she wasn't up for anything, even just a friendly catch up before RAW.

No. She wasn't in the mood for anything.

Barrett was back. From the little Bobbi had heard, he'd had an issue with his working visa and needed to get it redone, which had meant he'd been deported to Britain while he waited for things to get sorted.

Bobbi arrived at the arena around two, helped with the set up of the ring side chairs and then ducked between the newly set up ropes and did her ring workout. She threw herself against the turnbuckles and then ran the ropes, bouncing back and forth until there was a thin sheen of sweat along her skin.

There was a movement out of the corner of her eye and she turned her head, catching the eyes of one of her stablemates — and surprisingly, not Dean.

"Hey, Bobbi," Roman said quietly. "You mind if I join you, baby girl?"

She shook her head no.

Collapsing in the centre of the ring and catching her breath, she waited for Roman to start talking, watched as he sat across from her.

"You went off the radar for a bit last week," he mused, "and Dean was trying to figure out whether he'd done something wrong."

"He hasn't," she laughed quietly. "I just needed a bit of time."

"From him?"

"From everyone."

"So, what is it then? With him?" Roman paused and shrugged his shoulders slowly. "I mean, obviously apart from the sex, the way that you two look at each other… it's haunting."

"It's just sex, Ro," Bobbi replied. She fidgeted with her shoelace, didn't meet his eyes. "At the moment, it's just sex. I don't really know him, but…"

"You want to." He finished for her. When she nodded, he smiled at her, white teeth glinting and everything. "I look forward to that day, Bob, I think you two even each other out."

Bobbi laughed at him. "We don't."

"No, it's true!" Roman laughed back at her, but then his smile dropped a bit and when her pale green eyes traced over his face, she knew he was being serious. "Seriously, I can see it. He's had a rough past and someone like you will make him see that there is good in the world."

Her eyes dropped back to the mat. It sounded like her, honestly. A rough past and needing a breath of fresh air — that was essentially _her_ story. So, why did Dean's sound similar?

"But… that's not all there is to it."

When Bobbi looked back up at Roman, his eyes were calculating — he'd seen the change in her response and immediately tried to back out of it.

"Ro…"

Roman smiled gently at her. "Whenever you're ready, doll, we'll all be here to listen to you."

"I…" she paused again and focused back on the ground. "It's difficult for me talk about my past, let alone to someone who I've just met."

"And we'll wait, okay?"

He pushed up from where he was sitting and outstretched a hand to Bobbi. Pulling her in for a long, bone crushing hug… Bobbi felt like she was home. Like this company was her home, like she was safe and didn't even have to worry about anything.

Bray found her shortly after Roman had left her alone.

Gathering her things and tossing them in the duffle, slinging it over her shoulder, the long haired man walked down the ramp. He looked cautious, like he was approaching a deer, but when a small smile crossed her features he eased up.

"You get my texts?"

"Thought I'd just let you stew over the radio silence for a week," she teased.

He held his arms open and Bobbi walked into them, smiling in the embrace, and then pulled back when he pat her shoulder.

"We good?"

"We good," laughed Bobbi. "Just… don't do that again, yeah?"

He nodded enthusiastically and then dragged them towards the back so they could start getting ready for the show.

—

It wasn't until after she'd done her segment that she remembered Wade Barrett was back in the building. And suddenly her home became a lot smaller.

She was sitting in catering with Bray, legs pulled up her chest, smile on her face as she watched the rest of RAW on the screen. Bray's eyes darkened a little and she felt his shift in attitude.

Barrett had walked in and headed straight for them.

"Oh, look who's decided to grace us with his presence, Bray," drawled Bobbi, eyes rolling as he sneered back at her.

"Never a pleasure, Bobbi."

"Why are you here then? Come to stir the pot a little? Remind me you're still kicking?"

Barrett gave her an even look. "I heard you've been sleeping around again."

"You've heard?" Bobbi laughed, shaking her head. She could tell he was trying to get a raise out of her because of the way his voice levelled out. "What's his name again? I can't remember, I was too busy fucking his brains out to care."

Beside her, Bray stiffened, but he didn't say a word.

"You know, Barrett," she laughed again, "your games get real predictable real fast. So say what you want and get the fuck out of my face."

His hands pressed down on the table as he leaned in towards them, but as much as he didn't want to draw attention, people were beginning to stare. "I hope he knows, Barbara. I hope whoever it is you're getting off on knows the real you. Because you strung me along like I was a toy and then broke my heart with no hesitation."

"You seem to forget that it was _your_ plan to do just that."

"And I _never_ did," he hissed right back. "I never followed through with it. You are a vindictive, conniving, two-faced _bitch_ that can't handle emotions like an adult and I personally cannot _wait_ for the moment he breaks you like I never could."

Bobbi ground her jaw together as Wade stalked away, fists clenching and unclenching as she tried to keep her temper in check. Fucking _fucker_. How _dare_ he. He'd tried to play her at her own game and got _schooled_ , and then acted like he didn't deserve it. Bobbi's pale green eyes were darkened with pure rage and she could hear Bray's voice trying to calm her down, but she couldn't decipher any words through the sound of rushing blood in her ears.

Pushing her chair back harshly, Bobbi tossed Bray's hand off her arm and stalked off in the direction of the little nook of the arena she'd found earlier.

And as soon as she did, her fists were hitting the concrete over and over again until blood was dripping from her knuckles and her hands felt numb. Punch, _fucking stupid,_ punch, _fucking STUPID,_ punch, _who the fuck did he think he was_ , punch, punch, punch. The pain didn't even register until she felt a twinge in her left wrist, and then she pulled away with a sharp and quick scream.

 _How dare he?_

She was _not_ the only bad person in this situation, she was _not_ the sole culprit of the heartbreak he'd faced. His heart wasn't the only one that had broken during that relationship.

But the fact that Wade was still bitter about it, still striving to get her to hurt, was because she had never shown her pain in front of him. She'd never granted him the opportunity to, and she never would.

And he was still right. She couldn't handle emotions, she was two-faced, she was _definitely_ a bitch. But not with Dean. Never with Dean.

When the man in question found Bobbi, she was sitting on the floor, legs up to her chest and elbows on her knees as she pressed her thumbs into her eyes. He didn't say anything, just scuffed his shoe so she'd know he was there, and then sat beside her, knee occasionally bumping hers.

"You did a real number on that wall," he eventually mumbled. "Looks like it fought back, though."

Bobbi opened her eyes and glanced at the drying blood on the back of her hands. "I think I hurt my wrist," she replied just as quietly.

Dean turned to catch her gaze and offered a quick grin. "If you wanted a punching bag, you coulda just asked."

Her only response was a tired smile.

They'd been out in the ring, a match against the Rhodes brothers and Big Show that saw Bobbi take a couple of bumps before The Shield picked up the win. Cody had harshly shoved her from the apron when she'd tried to cause a distraction, and without remorse, The Big Show had driven his shoulder into her chest to knock her flat on her back. She was _sore_. And even more so, now.

The man next to her slowly made a move to get them both back to the locker room, slipping his hand around her elbow and then pulling her up when she didn't refuse him.

"Y'know," he said, "I heard you and Barrett had a… talk."

"Yeah?"

"Were you imagining that wall as his face?"

The corner of her lips pulled up, eyes along the floor. "Who wouldn't?"

There was an arm around her shoulder, Dean pulling her against his strong body, and Bobbi had to fight not to collapse into him.

"Want me to go beat him up?"

"No, no, I'm more than capable of doing that," she laughed. Then she sighed. "I just… he's testing my patience. And sooner or later, you know, that wall's going to be his face."

"You're not so much of a teddy bear when you're mad, Bob," Dean chuckled back at her. "I've seen that first hand."

"I'd apologise, but…"

"No, you're fine."

"What've you got lined up for the week?"

He didn't answer straight away, instead squeezed the top of her arm pensively. "Dunno. Was gonna head back to Vegas, but some of the boys in Cinci wanna catch up." Dean looked down at her wrist as she fidgeted with it and paused his train of thought. "You wanna go get that checked out?"

But Bobbi just shook her head no. "I wanna get out of here."

"Alright, let me go round the guys up. I'll meet you at the car."

The ride was silent, but Seth was humming along to some metal song he'd chucked on and Roman was napping against the window. There was nothing much to say.

Bobbi massaged her wrist tenderly, wincing whenever she found a sore spot. She was still bitter about the whole situation, and somehow, for no other reason than to get off on it, Wade Barrett had ruined another night of her life.

"I can hear you thinking back there, Bob," Dean said quietly from the drivers seat. "If you're plotting his murder or anything, we can help."

"Oh, no," Seth laughed, almost without humour, "no, no, no, you leave me out of your revenge killing, yeah?"

Bobbi sent him a gentle glare and then turned back to look out the window. But then she turned back to him.

"What's going on, Seth? You've been really quiet the past week…"

The man in question shrugged at her. "It's Leighla… I dunno, man, she's just being weird. I try talking to her and all she replies with is a one syllable answer."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Nah," he murmured. "It's not her thing."

"Wanna give me her number?"

Seth tried sputtering out a reply, but didn't really fight back as soon as she stole his phone out of his hand. She transferred the number, looked at Seth and sent him a reassuring smile. "I won't do anything stupid, just introduce myself and… stuff."

"Girly talk," Dean suggested, and Bobbi chuckled in agreement.

"Yeah, something like that."

Roman shuffled in the front seat and the car descended back into silence, the rest of the trip going quickly now that Bobbi was trying to think of what to say to Seth's girlfriend.

They pulled up to the hotel in Tulsa almost an hour earlier than they should have, but checking-in went smoothly and then she was hugging a sleepy Roman goodnight, smiling at Seth until Dean wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

He threw their bags on the bed, door slowly closing and then sent Bobbi a little smile.

"We'll check your hands out and then let you get some sleep, yeah?"

"Only if you sleep."

They shared a humorous look with each other.

Bobbi sat on the edge of the double bed and waited for Dean to sort out the first aid kit.

He was gentle when it came to cleaning off the blood, soaked a swab of gauze in an alcoholic antiseptic solution and wiped it down her hands, slowly letting the normal colour of her skin shine through. Her wrist wasn't in much pain anymore, and now she was even doubtful that she had sprained it — Dean was sure that she hadn't, but still told her to wrap it before jumping out onto the floor the next day.

Dean ran his fingers along the cuts and assessed the damage as best he could. There were a couple of lacerations along each knuckle, but nothing too deep to be serious. Fingertips danced across Bobbi's skin as Dean sealed the broken flesh with a few bandaids.

When she looked back up at him, Dean looked… _edible_. Bobbi's stomach churned and her toes curled as his touches became softer, and then all she wanted was for him to help her lose her mind.

She dropped her sore hands against his pants and pulled him to her, crashing their lips together, and straight away her top was off. With her free hand, she caressed his and brought it up to cup a heavy breast, moaning against his tongue when he got over his surprise.

Pressing a hand to his jeans and feeling him was like a weight being lifted off her mind.

And when he groaned against her aggressive mouth, when he pushed back at her, matched her intensity, Bobbi could feel all the thoughts of the day fading away.

Slowly, she pulled back from him and dropped to her knees, pressed her nose against his crotch, dragged a hand between his legs so that her fingertips pressed softly to where his balls were. And then she was undoing the belt, pulling the zip down and the jeans down with it.

"Bobbi— what are you doing?" He voice sounded strangled, like he couldn't breathe properly.

She didn't stop.

Bobbi's fingers curled into the waistband of his briefs, mouth hovering over the growing erection.

He moaned openly and his hand at the back of her neck flexed, and then she was pulling his briefs down and running her tongue along his length. Again his moans filled the space and Bobbi felt her underwear slowly become wetter and wetter, reached a hand down her pants to run it along the material covering her.

When she took the tip of him between her lips, Dean's legs almost shook with pleasure.

Generous with the spit, holding a hand at his base, she began move quicker, bobbing her head, and she pulled off with a loud noise. Her nose pressed against his length and then one ball was in her mouth, the other quickly following.

Above her, Dean's noises became like heroin. She continued stroking herself but didn't remove her underwear.

Taking him into her mouth one last time, Bobbi moved back up his body, trailed her lips against his smooth skin until she was lifting the shirt off his shoulders.

His hands were back in her hair, dragging her lips to his, and their tongues pushed together harshly. The kiss was passionate and breath taking and Bobbi managed to push the shorts down her body, and his hands curled around the backs of her legs to left her weight up onto his hips.

But then he stilled, backed away from her face, confused and darkened blue eyes trying to meet hers. "If this is emotionally charged, I'm not the kind of guy to warn you—"

"Then don't."

"Bobbi…"

"No, I'm serious. Just fucking _fuck me_ until _I_ _can't think_."

She wasn't in any way prepared for the thrust and against her tight walls, it felt like he was almost ripping her apart. But she'd wanted this — wanted the pain to help her forget her headspace. This wasn't anything more than sex, this wasn't a relationship, he wouldn't break her heart. No, Barrett was wrong.

Somehow, she was being manhandled.

And it wasn't hard since he had almost twenty centimetres on her height, double the amount of muscle on his body. But it was still something that had Bobbi hot under the collar.

Dean's muscular arms were supporting most of her weight, both wrapped tight around her waist and almost crushing her body against his, and at the same time his hips were driving up into hers and pushing the breath from her lungs.

There was nothing pretty about it.

When he was done, he all but threw her onto the covers of the hotel bed, quickly following and slamming straight back into his blinding pace. The orgasm was almost violent, her entire body shaking, and Dean didn't let himself experience one until she was down from hers.

—

 _Nathan's grin tore across his face and his eyes glinted and Bobbi couldn't stop the pounding of her heart increasing, she couldn't look away from the sick and twisted human being that was in front of her._

 _"You can't run," he breathed, and suddenly he was behind her and had a hand in her hair and was tugging harshly, and her body was thrown to the floor. "There's no escape, Barbara, you can't keep me away forever…"_

 _The words in Bobbi's brain couldn't form in her mouth and the air wasn't coming to her lungs, and when her eyes opened, she saw his demonic figure straddling her, hands at her throat, ugly green eyes sneering down at her in contempt._

 _She couldn't breathe._

 _Her hands were clawing at her throat and there were tears in her eyes and she could feel the fight draining from her body as she thrashed under his legs. But then his mouth was on hers, tongue thrusting into her mouth, and his fingers tightened even more._

 _And finally the vision in her eyes went completely dark as unconsciousness overcame her._

Bobbi lurched upright from the bed with a loud gasp, fingers clawing at her own throat, tears streaming from her eyes. But she could breathe.

It was a nightmare.

It was just a nightmare.

Dean stirred next to her and turned to look up at her heaving figure, and then he pushed up onto his elbows.

"Bob?"

"I'm— I'm okay," she managed to push out, but his arms were already wrapping around her body to crush her against him. "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay…"

"Shhh…"

Dean cradled her shaking figure against his chest. Smoothing his hand down across her hair, Dean tried to hush the woman and stop the oncoming panic attack.

It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but he could count the number of occasions on one hand. Something about her past, something about Texas, something that happened whenever she had a run in with Barrett; the whole situation reeked of Bobbi's vulnerability and Dean didn't know whether he'd be able to stop himself from hurting someone who had so obviously hurt her. He didn't know much, but what he'd figured from the stories he'd heard, it was nothing she'd want to remember _at all_.

Slowly, her breathing returned back to normal, and when Dean looked down to ask whether she was feeling any better, the woman was fast asleep.

So he just held her tighter and dropped a kiss to her head.

—

Bobbi's entire body ached when she woke up in the morning. Flashes of yesterday broke through her morning haze and she dragged a hand down her face. And images of the nightmare followed.

God, she hadn't had a nightmare like that since Barrett had confronted her in September — since she'd beat up her own brother. And that had been almost three months. She only had them when he confronted her, and she'd never know why.

Dean was curled up around her body and she pushed away from him, gently as not to wake him up, and tiptoed to the bathroom.

Making quick time of stripping from her clothes, she jumped into the shower, tried to stop her quivering body. The water was hot as it cascaded across the expanse of her skin, droplets running along the divots and bulges of her subtle muscles. Her entire being ached, her head was pounding, temples threatening to come crashing in, and her muscles felt so tired that they were spasming when she relaxed them.

She had her forearms up against the wall and head dropped back, powerful water pounding down on her skin, and the steam in the bathroom was enough to cause a sweat to break out over her already drenched skin.

It was winter and she was sweating, and she knew that when she got out, she'd be walking the dangerous line of catching a cold.

But she couldn't think. Out there, with Seth and Dean and Roman constantly around her, with Bray and Phil watching her every move, with Wade constantly sticking his nose in where it didn't belong, Bobbi couldn't think without being judged.

And Filipa was down in Tampa in developmental, and Bobbi didn't even want to think about calling the woman who _needed_ to concentrate on her own career; it would be selfish and unfair, and Bobbi couldn't do that.

So the shower was her only sanctuary.

It wasn't like Bobbi hadn't thought about Nathan when she'd been offered the spot in developmental. He used to frequent her dreams for the six years after she'd left him. She had no idea where he was, or what he was doing, or if he was even still alive - possibly, he was in jail.

Apart from Filipa, the only person who knew the full story was Phil, and that was because he'd been the first person she'd called to help her set up a new life. Bray knew the general story, that he'd been part of a bad crowd, but he didn't know what had happened to Bobbi. Not even Craig or her mother knew the real story. It was something she was ashamed of, something she'd built her life protecting.

The night Bobbi and Dean had gotten into the argument, the night he'd told her he knew she was hiding something, she was. And even the morning he asked about her scars… she was hiding it. She was hiding her past. She was hiding Nathan, she was hiding that from Dean… but she was also hiding it from herself.

She never wanted to think about him again. And if she had the option, Dean would _never_ know about it.

It was a black mark in her early adulthood.

Nathan Murray.

 _What an inconspicuous name_ , Bobbi had thought when she first met him. He was gorgeous, in the kind of way a succubus would be, with green eyes that rivalled Bobbi's and blonde hair that was sun bleached. He'd told her that he was a beach kid. And he came from the kind of money that followed him every where.

Bobbi fell head over heels in love with him like a love sick teenager and followed him right out of her boxing academy and right into the evil clutches of a cult-like following. Bray Wyatt's gimmick had nothing on what this had been.

The things that she'd done, that she'd been witness to, was enough to have her stomach churning just at the memories. She'd had the chance to keep Nathan from ever being in her life again and she took it, burnt that house to the goddamn ground with him inside of it.

There was a rapping of knuckles across the door of the bathroom and Bobbi sighed, quickly shut the water off, and let her head hang between her hands as she shouted out an apology.

Dean was probably looking to get in and freshen up before the show tonight and she wasn't helping.

As soon as Bobbi had her jumper thrown over her spandex wrestling bra, she opened the door and let him in, smiling softly at her scruffy looking roommate.

"You take forever," he mumbled as he strode right past her, stripping his clothes off and jumping in the shower. The curtain was only half pulled back, but neither of them were particularly in the mood to start something with the way last night had panned out.

So Bobbi stood there and pulled the rest of her wrestling gear on, plugged a hair dryer in and quickly went about straightening the already curling hair.

But when she met her own eyes in the mirror, pale green reflecting back at her, Bobbi stopped short.

If Nathan walked back into her life right now, if he'd somehow survived that fire, the only way he would ever recognise her was if he stared right into her eyes. Just thinking of him sent a flash of fear through them, the same fear and agony he'd craved relentlessly from her.

If Nathan walked back into her life right now, she'd never be able to protect herself. She was so weak. So, _so_ weak when it came to him. He swallowed her strength like it was an intoxicating drug.

"Bobbi!"

The voice snapped the woman in question from her thoughts and she quickly looked up, met Dean's worried eyes as he stared at her around the curtain.

"You 'right?" He asked quietly, even though he already knew the answer to that. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

 _Just thinking of one_ , Bobbi almost replied. She turned off the hair dryer and dropped her eyes from his. "No ghost, just memories."

When Bobbi didn't offer anything else, Dean frowned and moved back under the stream of the water. She knew that he wanted more. Hell, he could probably help her deal with everything. But it wasn't his burden to bear, and it was hers and hers alone.

"Something to do with that nightmare earlier?"

She didn't reply.

"I'll leave you to it, then."

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **December 3rd**

 **Tulsa, Oklahoma**

She was accompanying her boys to the ring as usual, vest tucked into place and boobs pushed up to her chin — Shannon had to make her female figure stand out somehow with the unflattering piece of material.

Ambrose was going up against CM Punk, and the only thing she was going to do was shove Punk from the ring after he won the match-up. Simple. In and out.

Bobbi just wanted to go home.

* * *

 **personal revelations, angry, ugly sex, lots of bobbi trying to figure her shit out. i hope you guys are starting to see that bobbi's had a pretty messed up past and that's kinda why she is the way she is. at least, that's where i'm getting to. also, round of applause for over 60,000 words? yay go me. i dunno, but ive never written so much sex in my life, let me tell you that, lmao.**

 **on to my beautiful reviewers; Raquel the writer** (thank-you!) **, R1verdance** (huehuehue that was totally my plan all along) **, T** (YAY! i know who you are now heheh. i'll throw some more of Roman and Seth into the mix, and I needa add more of Punk as well.. and pleeeaase, there's always more ;) ) **, Pinayprincesa** (i touch on it _kind of_ in this chapter, but once things come to a head everyone will understand) **, and RachyDoodle** (oh haaai! thank you so much, I'm glad you think so!). **drop a comment and i'll talk to you and offer lots of love :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**Saturday, 7th December**

"What do you mean it's his birthday?!"

Roman laughed down the phone and she could imagine him shaking his head. "It's his birthday! He's 28 today—"

"Are you telling me that I'm older than him?"

"What— when the fuck is your birthday?!"

"August!"

"Well, I mean… that's what, four months? You're four months older?"

"Exactly," she mused, and then she laughed. "Of course he's younger, I'm a fucking cougar—"

"It's four months, Barbara, get over it."

Bobbi _hmphed_ and then shook her head. "Why didn't he say anything?"

"Dunno, sugar. He's still pretty thrown by what happened on Tuesday…"

"Ro," she sighed, shaking her head. "He has every right to be, but that's still no reason to not get excited about it."

"He doesn't really enjoy his birthday—"

"Well, he's about to." Bobbi was already walking around her room, chucking clothes onto her bed, mentally figuring out what to pack. "What are you doing the rest of the weekend?"

"Bobbi… what're you planning?"

"Well, it's his birthday, right? So we're going to go celebrate with him. He's only 28 once, so we'll throw him a small party, invite a couple of his friends— you know who his friends are, right?"

She could hear Roman smothering a laugh down the phone and then he sighed. "See, this is what I meant when I said you're good for him, Bob. No one's ever done something like this before."

"Pretty sucky friends he's got then," she replied quietly. "But, it won't take long for me to get down there, I mean it's what — eight?"

"How long's the flight?"

"Three and a half hours… The drive down to Chicago is an hour, so that'll be nine, fly out at nine thirty, get in at one? How about you? And Seth? He'll want in on it, can even bring Leighla."

"His flight'll take around the same as yours… mine's a bit longer, five and a half. Gonna have to pack my ring stuff for Monday and Tuesday, head back home on Wednesday, start the house shows Friday…"

"Sounds hectic. You good to come then?"

"Yeah, I'll get to the airport as soon as I can and then we'll all meet up at the pub near his house, go and surprise him together." Roman paused. "So, speaking of Seth, you talked to Leighla yet?"

Bobbi smirked as she pulled a suitcase out from the cupboard. "Yep. Nothing to worry about. She's surprising Seth with something, wants to act like she's being distant. All some big concoction. They're in looooove," Bobbi sang, joining in Roman's laughter happily.

"Alright, I'll see you in a couple of hours, baby girl."

"See ya, Ro."

An hour later saw Bobbi at the Chicago airport. Donned in a loose navy shirt, boyfriend jeans that were held up by a white belt, some camel timberlands and a khaki parka coat, she was _definitely_ prepared for the chilly weather in Chicago as well as the warmer weather in Vegas.

A black cap was pulled low over her face but her silver and black hair was spilling over her shoulders in loose curls, so while she was trying to conceal her identity, she wouldn't be surprised if a couple of people approached her.

Ordering her flight and moving through to her gate, she checked her phone when it dinged with a new message.

 _What time does ur flight get in?_ Seth's message read, and Bobbi quickly tapped out her _one thirty_ answer before waiting for his reply; _ill meet u at the carousel & wait for ro - he gets in half past 2._

The flight went quick, three and a half hours passed by reading a book she'd stolen from Dean, and when she landed she made a bee-line towards her carousel. Seth gathered her up in a hug when they found each other and Bobbi made a note that Leighla wasn't here — her plan was _really_ swinging into effect now.

The plan was to hire out the pub near Dean's apartment, invite a couple of his Vegas friends, a couple of his Cinci friends that were already in town, and just chill for the night. _What a plan_.

—

Three hours later, Bobbi pressed her ear up against the door of Dean's apartment.

 _Knock, knock, knock._

She had the blue suitcase with her, a grey backpack slung over her shoulder, hair dishevelled — she wouldn't be surprised if he made a comment.

The door swung open and Dean's eyes were wide in surprise. He had a can of beer in his hands and was wearing nothing other than a pair of black slacks that were slung low on his hips.

Before even giving Dean a moment to process the situation, Bobbi sucked in a deep breath and pushed into the apartment, dumping her bag on the floor, rolling her shoulders, and then looked back to the still surprised man who owned the house.

"Put some clothes on, we're going drinking."

He stuttered out a response until Bobbi stole the can out of his hands. "Arlett— the fuck are you doing here? And give my beer back, you—"

"Go put some clothes on," she laughed at him. "Seriously, we're going drinking."

"You didn't think to tell me you were showin' up?"

One look at his face told her that he was teasing her, but she just plopped herself on the couch and shrugged out of the parka. "Figured you would be okay with a booty call."

"Oh, is that what I am now?"

"Noooo," Bobbi drawled, "no, you're a friend. And a booty call. A friendly booty call?"

"That makes it _so_ much better." His voice was slow and deliberate and he walked out of the room while Bobbi sent off a quick message to Seth.

Dean came back out in a black button down and some dark jeans, stared at Bobbi's outfit. "We just going to a pub or something?"

"Ha-ha, smartass," she snapped. "Fuckin' just got off a plane to spend your Goddamn _birthday_ doing something special."

He pursed his lips and looked a little sheepish as Bobbi sent him a rightful glare that said _you're damn right I know it's your birthday_ , and then they were out of the apartment and walking towards the elevator. Dean's hand was up scratching the back of his neck and he looked around the small space awkwardly.

"Alright, I'll bite," Bobbi said slowly. "What's the face for?"

"I don't really like celebratin' my birthday…"

She shrugged and whacked his chest. "Get over it, dimples. You're only 28 once."

And Dean's face when he walked into the pub… it was priceless. It was worth it.

Bobbi stood back with Roman and watched him interact with his friends, smiling, happy, face bright with joy. He bounced back and forth between groups, hit back beer after beer, laughed with friends that he hadn't seen for a while. Dean's happiness was infectious.

Roman laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. "You did good, Bob."

Smiling up at him, Bobbi followed his gaze back to the birthday man. "Yeah. He's happy, isn't he? When's the last time you saw him smile like this?"

"Every time he's with you."

And… Bobbi stopped at that. Every time? No, that wasn't possible. But Roman was close — almost every time they were together, his blue eyes sparkled with contentment, just happy being in her company, and every time she came out with a snarky comment or a joke, he'd laugh.

So, maybe he _was_ happy with her.

Bobbi was happy with him.

This _could_ work. It could. If she trusted him, if he trusted her. There was a future, there. Between them. Somewhere.

—

 **RAW Live & WWE Slammy Awards**

 **December 9th**

 **Seattle, Washington**

"You want me to wear _this?"_

Stephanie McMahon was casting an appreciative eye over the sleek black dress they had Bobbi in, sharing a look with Shannon, and asked the woman to spin again. It moved against her legs softly, the material following her movements as she teetered in the platformed stilettos.

The dress was… stunning. The black material stopped short of the ground, a long slit running up mid-thigh on both the front and back of her left leg. The neckline plunged past her breasts and was outlined in a shiny satin to draw attention, and the sleeves stopped after her elbows. The gentle buffer in the shoulders enhanced Bobbi's hourglass figure. Her dead straight silver and black hair was pulled back off her face, hair-pins keeping the tendrils from toppling over her shoulders, full lips lined in a deep red. And as she stared in the mirror at her reflection, she couldn't find the words to say.

"You look beautiful, Bobbi," Stephanie sighed happily. "The neckline is a bit much, but… _who cares!_ You look _stunning!"_

Bobbi choked out a laugh and glanced at her reflection in the mirror again. She would never choose something like this, but then again, it wasn't really her choice.

She slipped the heels off and hooked a finger in the back of them, bidding her goodbyes to Stephanie and the stylist before walking towards the catering area. People stared as she walked past. It was hard not to, she guessed, when the dress they gave her barely held her breasts in place.

The boys were meeting her in catering. Phil was propped up in the corner, eyes focused on a comic.

Crossing the room quickly to avoid being really noticed, she caught his eyes and sent him a shaky smile.

"Too much?" She breathed as she plonked down.

He pursed his lips and sent her a smirk, shaking his head. "You'll fit well with the boys."

Her eyebrow raised in question but when he nodded his head over her shoulder, Bobbi's breath stopped short.

 _Sure_. Sure, she liked Dean's hair when it was fluffy and not gelled back. But when he was dressed in an all-black suit, satin neckline on his blazer that matched Bobbi's, dark blonde hair slicked back… she could have jumped his bones on the spot. He looked so _handsome_. He looked amazing.

Next to him, flanked either side by Roman and Seth, both men looked dapper. Roman's luscious hair was secured back in a man-bun and Seth's was left out. They were all in matching suits. And suddenly Bobbi understood the satin finishes on her dress and why Phil had said what he'd said.

The blues of Dean's eyes caught her pale greens and they trailed down her inviting bare chest as an eyebrow raised, and then his eyes were moving along the smooth line of her bare leg.

He didn't say anything as he sat down, but Roman and Seth had to stop short of gawking at her.

"Could they have that thing any lower?" Seth commented.

She rolled her eyes at him. "They have to restate the fact that I'm a female, I guess."

"You look gorgeous," Dean said lowly, bumping his knee against hers, and Bobbi shot him an appreciative smile.

"Could say the same about you, ya hunk," was her even reply, sharing a soft smile with the attractive man next to her.

His gaze darkened as he looked over Bobbi's shoulder and when she turned to inspect, Barrett was staring unashamedly at her body. But he was also focusing on the way that she and Dean were staring at each other — and she didn't know which one made her skin crawl more.

An arm was slung around her shoulder and then Dean was pulling her back against his body, lips pressing to the shell of her ear as he stared over her head.

"You claiming me, Ambrose?" Bobbi teased lowly as she turned her back to Barrett.

He smirked cockily and flicked his tongue out over his bottom lip, saying, "Just trying to make him jealous."

—

As their music hit the arena, they walked out through the normal entrance, Bobbi sashaying her hips as best she could and following Seth as he led the way. There were a couple of wolf whistles, but mainly the crowd remained silent or booed. When The Shield reached the podium, Bobbi stood between Seth and Dean, smirking cockily into the camera.

"I know… I know," Ambrose started, feigning innocence. But then his face split into a smirk. "I look _great_." Bobbi made a show of rolling her eyes. "Double cross of the year… now, we've already won two awards tonight on the Slammy pre-show, but this is one award we know nothing about."

"That's right, my man," Seth said as he slapped a hand onto Dean's chest. "2013, year of The Shield. But all that justice dispensed? We did it _our_ way. Man to man, straight up."

"Or… woman to man," Bobbi corrected loudly, sharing a look with Seth, then smirking in arrogance.

"So if you're thinking about crossin'," Roman went on, "or even double crossin' The Shield… I'd wake up. Because you're gonna pay the price. And that's why—"

Dean interrupted, received a sharp look from all members. "That's why you'll never see our name in this category. And the nominees are…"

The room darkened and then the nomination video took over the titantron. Bobbi grabbed the Slammy Award at the base and held it tightly as she prepared to read out the results.

"And your winner for Double Cross of the Year…" Bobbi drawled, anticipation growing as the noises of drums filled the arena, Dean opening the envelope tantalisingly slow. "Shawn Michaels."

The man in question walked out with a smile wide across his face and Bobbi stepped forward with the golden statue in her hand, smiling as she handed it over to him. She bent forward, lips catching the side of his cheek, and grinned as she saw the red imprint when she moved back. Shawn fanned himself as Bobbi moved on, and then she and her boys were walking back through the curtains.

Shannon helped her out of the stunning dress and in no time she was back in her usual ring gear and getting ready for the bout between Phil and Dean later on.

—

Ambrose was being cocky. That was the only way to put it, and the fans could easily see the tension that was rising between The Shield members — too much testosterone for them to handle. He was the only one left in the faction with a title around his waist and he was letting it get to his head.

Flinging herself over the padded barricade after Seth, Bobbi paced the length of the commentary table and glared into the ring at CM Punk. It was a one on one match, but that didn't mean that they couldn't do their job as a team and support their brother.

The Slammy Award for the Insult of the Year went to Stephanie. Bobbi stayed beside the large Samoan as Dean talked shit to the single man in the ring, her eyes almost rolling back into her head.

"I got it," Dean said confidently to his three stable mates, "I got it, you hear?"

"You got it, man, we know you got it," reaffirmed Seth.

Dean smirked, pointed at Punk. "That boy is mine."

Ambrose popped the title off his waist and looked across at Bobbi — with a smirk, she gently took it from him and clasped it around her waist (when she looked back at the footage later that night, she had to admit that it looked _great_ ).

So the remaining three Shield members stayed ringside for the beginning of the match. Bobbi was leant against the apron, fists under her chin to support her head as she gazed under the bottom rope. She didn't say anything as Dean and Punk moved past her, just listened to Seth yelling advice every chance he got, the occasional sentence falling from Roman's mouth. But not once did her eyes stray from Dean's body — and every time the camera panned to her, the pale green irises were burning with intensity.

Even when Dean was rammed shoulder first into the steel post next to her, she didn't move.

" _Bobbi Arlett does_ not _look impressed with Ambrose at the moment!_ " Cole commentated, " _Could this be_ more _tension between The Shield family?_ "

When Punk hit Ambrose in the side of the head with an elbow that saw him flung off the side of the apron, when Punk launched himself out of the ring in a kamikaze dive and slammed Ambrose back against the barricades... she still didn't move.

Roman and Seth were either side of the ring, staring on menacingly, intimidatingly, and Punk was frozen for a second as he looked between them.

When the match moved back into the ring, Seth walked around the ring and slapped his hand against her tattooed arm. "You letting him at this alone?"

"He wants to think he's the man, he does it by himself."

His lips pursed at her comment and they focused back on the match at hand, Bobbi's eyes still burning.

And then Ambrose tossed Punk out of the ring and into the lions den. Reigns and Rollins turned on him, Bobbi finally pushing off her spot and slowly inching her way over to the fallen superstar.

The titantron showed Bobbi's face, eyes gone dark and screaming danger, nude lips slightly pulled up in a smirk. She ducked down into a crouch so that she was eye-level with Punk, tilted her head to the side.

He rolled onto his ass and his tired eyes glared back at her, but he was spent and she wasn't — and in this kind of fight, she won hands down.

But then Dean was propelling himself from the ring and onto the floor, wrapped his hands around her arm and dragged her away, pushing her against the apron of the squared circle.

"What do you think you're doin', Arlett?" Dean said loudly, cockily, "I got this — I told you I got this, you don't stick your nose in where it doesn't belong, you hear me?"

"Nothing wrong with staring," Bobbi laughed, her hands up in the air. "Didn't touch him, Dean, but I'll smack that stupid smile off your face if you don't drop the ego."

They glowered at each other for a moment before Seth pushed in and created some space between them. Dean didn't waist time rolling Punk back into the ring, but then he turned on Bobbi for the second time, curling his fingers between the title wrapped around her waist and the vest on her body. She was pulled against him harshly, nose almost touching hers, but the movement wasn't sensual or sexual in intention.

"Get _my_ title off your waist, Arlett," he hissed, "you'll never measure up to what I'm capable of, you hear me?"

The crowd around them _oooh_ -ed as they tried to help drive the insult home, but Bobbi's lips pulled into a smirk. She shoved Ambrose off of her and unclasped the belt from her waist, held it up in the air with her eyebrows raised, and then tilted her head to watch Dean's reaction when she let it fall to the floor.

"You wouldn't even have this if it weren't for us," Bobbi commented, and then she pushed past the surprised man.

She didn't stop walking, even when she hit the ramp, but she did stop when she was at the top, and by the time she'd turned around… Punk had hit Dean with the GTS to pick up a squeaky clean win.

For a brief moment, she reconsidered joining her faction. Then, Roman hit Punk with a spear, Seth grabbed Ambrose, and when the blue of his eyes connected with hers, when the cameras picked it up, she turned her back and walked out.

—

"I'm so fuckin' exhausted!" Bobbi said loudly as she waltzed into their room later that night. Dean laughed as she flung herself onto the bed back first, arms thrown over her face. "Dean— be a babe and take my shoes off, please?"

His only response was a snort.

"Please?"

Peeking an eye open, she watched as he slowly stripped the normal clothes from his skin. "Or you can strip tease for me. Either way."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Dean laughed softly as he joined Bobbi on the bed, as he threw a leg over her hips and straddled her body. "Just like I would've paid with my life to have you strip tease outta that dress you were in."

Bobbi could feel her blood boiling, heart rate rising. "Oh yeah?"

"I wanted to take you right there. In front of every body." His voice was sultry and his fingers entwined with hers, pulled them away from her body to pin them above her head and against the mattress.

Dean ducked, lips capturing Bobbi's as he sensually kissed her. His tongue slid into her mouth and he made this sound at the back of his throat like she was the best thing he had ever tasted, heat beginning to pool in Bobbi's bones.

"Dean—" she tried, but his mouth smothered her words, drank them like fine wine.

When he pulled back, Dean's eyes were so dark with lust Bobbi's breathing stopped. "Wanted to cup your breasts in my hand, run my tongue down your chest—"

"If you don't stop talking I'm going to rip your tongue out."

He smirked as he stared down at her. And then he bent, ran his tongue over her collarbone, sucked a mark into the space just under her ear.

Easily, her cotton shorts were thrown from her legs, t-shirt quickly following.

"C'mon, Bobbi… imagine it. I bite into your neck, make it known that you're _mine_. You _grooaan,"_ he drawled against her skin, "so loudly that I can't think. I pick you up, push you back against this wall, we don't even have to take the Goddamn dress off…"

"Dean…" Bobbi was panting, barely able to press the word from her mouth, and she writhed under his body as he lowered a hand against her underwear.

"So fuckin' ready for me, Bob," Dean praised, "you're so ready."

"I— swear to God—"

Bobbi broke off with a loud gasp as he pushed two fingers past her underwear and into her, not in control of her body as her hips bucked up into his hand. At the base of her throat came a loud moan that had Dean's hand pushing deeper against her.

"I'm gonna make you _scream,_ Arlett," he whispered, sucking a nipple into his mouth, "you won't even know your first name when I'm through with you."

His pants were gone and then without a breath of warning, Dean plunged into her tightness, breath tickling her breast as he groaned.

"Oh, my— _fuck_."

Bobbi was spread underneath him, completely at his disposal. As her pushed into her over and over again, mewls and soft noises fell from her mouth like honey, back arching to meet his thrusts.

"You like it, huh? You like it, don't ya? When I talk real slow, when I fill you right up, when I fuck you like this—"

"Dean—" she broke off again as he wrapped an arm around her waist, lifted her lower body off the bed for a better angle, and Dean's mouth finally fell back onto hers as she let out a loud moan.

And soon enough she was sweating under him, panting like crazy, and Dean's strong body above hers looked like sin; his shoulders were glinting in the dim light, covered in thin sweat, his arms flexing with his movements. Dirty blonde hair brushed against her face as they moved back and forth almost as one, and as if he could feel her eyes on his face, his blues met her greens head on, lips pulling back in a cocky grin as he recognised the pleasure he was giving her, dimples creasing his cheeks slightly.

"Bet I do it better than Barrett, yeah? Bet he couldn't even fuck you half as good as I do," he rasped, "bet he couldn't make you cum, bet I fuckin' blow your mind like he never could."

Somehow — _somehow_ — his thrusts became stronger, faster, more accurate as he found Bobbi's g-spot, and his hand reached down to press against her bundle of nerves, stroking her clit until she was arching up into him.

"I'm— I'm gonna fuckin'-" Bobbi's voice dropped off and her legs tightened and trembled against his waist, her walls spasming around him as she experienced a jaw-dropping orgasm.

He was quick to follow her, breath stopping as his movements stilled, and with a grunt of effort, Dean rolled off of her.

Staring up at the ceiling, Bobbi tried to catch her breath. Her heart was going crazy and she didn't know what had just happened, why he'd brought Barrett up, why that had helped tip her over the edge.

"You on the pill or somethin'?"

She started at the sound of Dean's voice and glanced over at him, taken suddenly by his rugged attractiveness, shook her head when she processed the question. "No… you don't need to worry about it."

"You're not gonna get pregnant, right?" Dean sounded worried, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"No, Dean, it's fine. I have it sorted."

She slept, dreamless, for a solid three hours before being awoken by the sound of a shower in the apartment next to hers.

—

"Dean," she breathed later that morning, "it's not a competition between you and Barrett, you know that right? Cause earlier, you made it a competition."

Dean had a hand on her stomach and stroked his thumb across the plains of her muscles, rested his head on his arm as he stared straight at her milky skin. His blue eyes snapped up to hers right away. "Not a competition. Whose bed do'ya wake up in when it's not yours? Not his."

Bobbi felt her stomach lurch up into her throat. "Then what was that ramble?"

"I saw the way he was lookin' at you last night," he said softly as he looked away. "And I know that you have pretty bad nightmares whenever he decides to stop and have a chat, so if you think of me fuckin' your brains out when he talks to you, maybe the nightmares won't be 'cause of him."

 _Oh_.

It was a mix of sweet and blunt, something that was so _Dean_ it was almost heart-warming. And at the same time extremely hot.

"Also, just wanted to make sure you know that you're mine."

Bobbi smirked and let her head fall back onto the fluffy hotel pillow. _That, too_. Her eyes sparkled with cheekiness as she stared up at the roof, "I'm yours?"

"Make this thing an exclusive fuck buddies kinda thing, yeah?" Dean pressed a kiss against her ribs. "Or what'd you call it? A friendly booty call?"

She hit him then.

"Whaaaat? You know it's true, you're the one that said it."

—

Two hours later saw Bobbi at the hotel gym, sweating up a storm as she ran on the treadmill. She'd run outside, like Seth so often suggested to her, except she found it much easier to run in a controlled environment with little distractions.

Until, you know, people she knew decided to show up and have a conversation with her. Like Bray Wyatt. And Dean Ambrose.

"You look tired," Bray commented as he noted the dark bags under her eyes.

She didn't respond to this. She didn't have to, because Dean edged away from staring at himself in the mirror and fixed her with a very concerned, very fake look. "Wonder why that is, Bob?"

"No idea, Dean," she huffed out.

"You sure?"

The look Bobbi sent him could have turned the man to stone. "I'm actually going to kill you."

"You'd miss my penis too much."

Bray blanched at that, started to lift his hands to his ears. "Too much fuckin' information, Ambrose."

"I only speak the truth."

Bobbi threw a smelly, sweaty shoe at him to shut him up — and, actually, it worked effectively; Bobbi - 1, Dean - 0.

—

 **OKAY TECHNICALLY, house shows started back up on the 6th of Dec, but I'm gonna push that back a week because Dean's day is important + i really don't talk about house shows cause they're not televised.**

 **but haaaaaaay, back for another update, however i have some upsetting news; im back at uni next week :( so that means probably belated chapter updates and long waits, but i'll try and keep it together.**

 **onto my reviewers; Raquel the writer** (in time, my friend *insert evil laugh*) **, T** (her whole past is okay until she hits that nineteen year old age, and then everything just goes so wrong; *sighs,* young love. also HEY, look at this FINALLY THE SLAMMY CHAPTER! it's only been what, four chapters worth waiting? oops ;) ) **, and RachyDoodle** (yesssss, let's hope they are able to put it all behind them... or not *insert another evil laugh*) **. thankyou guys for reviewing, means the world to me, and thanks to my silent readers who favourite/follow this story as well!**

 **a review a day keeps the doctors away 8') (also gives you love)**


	14. Chapter 14

**SmackDown Taping**

 **December 10th**

 **Portland, Oregon**

Dean was on commentary that night, and Bobbi was still ignoring him after what had happened on Monday Night RAW. He talked smack a little about Punk, about their TLC 3-on-1 handicap match on Sunday, but her back was to him as she leaned against one of the ladders that was ringside.

"C'mon, sweetheart, you can't ignore me all day!"

Bobbi sent Dean a smirk over her shoulder.

Roman and Seth were going up against the Uso twins and Seth was being dominated early on, but Bobbi was more interested in what was happening on commentary.

"And I do have to ask you Dean, are cracks starting to show in— uh, among the family?" Michael Cole was asking. "It's something I've noticed over the past couple of weeks, _particularly_ with Bobbi Arlett turning her back on you guys this past Monday on RAW. Perhaps, you've alienated yourself from Rollins, Reigns, and Arlett?"

Dean stepped in before the interviewer could ask anything else. "Michael, let me ask you a question. I'm going to ask you a question, alright? What about the last three hundred and sixty five days—"

Bobbi pushed from the ladder then walked around the table, distracting Dean from what he was saying and drawing the cameras to her lengthy figure. She snapped open a chair, sat down and propped her legs up on the table, snatched a headset for herself and stared across the table at Michael Cole.

"How long have you been working here, Michael? Too long to count, right? When have you _ever_ seen a faction so _dominant_ like we are? Like The Shield is? _Never_."

Michael pursed his lips and called a few spots on the match, but then turned back to the two Shield members. "Let's talk about more recent history, then. Last Friday on SmackDown, when you guys were deciding who was going to face CM Punk in that one on one match up, and you, Dean, stood up almost to the chagrin of Rollins and Reigns — crack number one! Crack number two came on Monday Night RAW, when you had the match against Punk and we saw the footage just a little bit ago; we saw you and Bobbi get into a spat ringside and she walked away, turned her back—"

"So what, Michael?" Bobbi laughed and shared a look with Dean.

"The Shield are passionate individuals," Dean threw forward, "so yeah, okay, Bobbi and I got into a bit, but we eat, breathe, sleep this business, that's where our _bond_ comes from, that's why we're like a family, and that passion shows through sometimes, alright? And if you wanna interpret that as dissension, than you might as well go looking for the Loch Ness Monster, Michael."

Bobbi opted to stay quiet after that, tuned out a little bit as Michael and Dean bounced off each other, the occasional interruption from JBL, but she tried to concentrate on the match happening before her eyes.

Seven minutes later, when Reigns had speared both of the twins and subsequently ended the match, she and Dean slipped into the ring. Bobbi slapped Seth on the arm and sent him a dazzling smile, grabbed Roman's vest and hit his arm with her free hand.

"This is CM Punk and I'm broadcasting live from an undisclosed location." The man in question was on the tron. He sniffed, looked around unimpressed. "Actually, I'm in the basement of the arena. Do you guys broadcast from here a lot? I mean," he swiped his hand along a surface, rubbed the dust between his fingers, "it's filthy. It stinks. But I understand this is your little club house, this is where you like to gather to send your messages. I like to send messages too, like the one I sent last Monday night on RAW when a certain… _somebody_ decided to put his hands on me.

"Now onto this Sunday. I believe it's three on one, The Shield's _boys_ against CM Punk. I believe I'm walking into a whole sale slaughter. I said it in the past, Shield, I may be going down, but the question you need to be asking yourselves, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Bobbi Arlett… is how many of _you_ I'm taking with me. Cause I believe the last _two_ times we've met, I've exposed your weaknesses. _Believe_ in the best in the _world_."

—

 **TLC**

 **December 15th**

 **Houston, Texas**

 **CM Punk vs The Shield in a 3-on-1 Handicap match.**

The lights flashed, Bobbi pushed her body between Seth and Dean, and then the area went dark.

"Good for CM Punk," Dean leaned straight into the camera lens. "Putting on that _brave_ face, trying not to show fear, who you kiddin' Punk, who d'you think you're kidding, huh? You know _exactly_ what this is tonight. You know _exactly_ what The Shield is going to do to you, Punk. We're going to beat you to a pulp… so you _should_ be scared."

Seth tilted the camera towards him, bent forward as the lens panned across Bobbi's smug face. "Punk, you think you can divide and conquer? Well, I'm going to steal a catch-phrase from another man we put down… it doesn't _matter_ what you think!" He cackled, and beside Bobbi Dean smirked, dimples creasing his cheeks. "You can't divide us, and you damn sure ain't gonna conquer us. Punk, we're carved into _stone_ , we're _forged_ out of _iron_ , The Shield is _unyielding_."

"Punk, Punk, Punk… the way I look at it, you're just a _liar_. In front of the whole world, you've _lied_. You have no chance tonight… t'be honest, I think ahh," the smug look on Roman's face grew, "you're a little bit confused from last week when I speared you in _half_. But the thing is, there's one more waiting for ya. And you can't take us with you…" he chuckled, tilted his head. "The hospital don't take _thoroughbreds_."

The camera shifted back to Bobbi and a tendril of silver and black hair fell over her shoulder. "Tonight, Punk, you ain't getting out of this unscathed. These boys will tear you limb from limb and that's _before_ I get to you once they're done. You better be ready to run, Punk, because we'll hunt you down remorselessly, and quite frankly, we'll enjoy every second of it."

"CM Punk is a man of conviction," with Dean back in focus, Bobbi propped an arm up on his shoulder and jutted her hip out against Seth's. "CM Punk is a man of beliefs. After tonight… Punk, you're only going to believe in one thing. You're gonna _believe_ in The Shield."

—

With the vest tucked securely in place and eyes like steel, Bobbi made her way down from the rafters in her place at the back. After Roman heaved himself over the barricades, she followed suit, launching her legs over them and landing swiftly on her heeled feet.

The boots themselves were now being held together by a thick covering of black duct tape, vest undone to show off the smidgen of blue that held her breasts in place and showed off The Shield dog tags tied around her neck. Her hair was messily curled, eyes lined in dark charcoal, lips nude. She looked fierce and she _felt_ it.

And while her three boys _dominated_ Punk early into the match, Reigns' missed spear earned him a blind eye. Roman tagged out straight away, rolled out of the ring and fell onto the ground next to Bobbi.

"Ro?"

"Fucking eye—"

She ducked down and grabbed Roman's face in her hands, stared at the already puffing eye and the red mark that was forming a line across his eye socket.

"Miss Arlett," the ringside medic said as he dashed around, and she moved out of the way but stayed crouched with her friend. "Roman, can you see anything?"

"Can't open my fucking eye—"

"Just try it and try it again."

Bobbi grimaced in sympathy as she watched Roman's face contort, and above her Dean was sent flying back onto the ground.

She gazed at him in worry but with a quick shake of his head, she turned back to Roman.

"Ro, can you move it at all?"

He held a hand to his injured eye and then stared at her. "Just the eye socket, baby girl, hopefully a black eye and nothing else."

Sending him another sympathetic smile, Bobbi resumed her position leaning against the apron and let the medic do his thing. She couldn't help him if she was in the way.

In the squared circle, she watched CM Punk build momentum against Rollins. His running knee ricochetted off of Seth's chin, the latter falling into the centre of the ring almost incapacitated. Punk climbed to the top rope, landed a cross body and continued into a cover, but Seth's kick out at two saved the match-up and Bobbi let out a sigh of relief.

Until Punk pulled Seth into his submission finisher — the Anaconda Vice. With a throaty scream, Bobbi climbed up onto the top rope and pushed her way between the middle and top rope until Punk was laughing at her and the referee was trying to shove her out. Bobbi's distraction made it easy for Ambrose to roll in and land a kick to Punk.

The audience's boos echoed loud around the arena as Dean tagged himself in, picking Punk up and slamming him into a corner, ramming his shoulders into the superstar's ribs over and over again.

Ambrose picked him up, placed the lone man on the top rope in preparation for a superplex, but after receiving two head-butts right to his nose, Dean was back on the apron. Launching himself off the top rope and landing an elbow across Dean's chest, Punk pushed into another unsuccessful cover.

Again, Bobbi found herself sighing in relief as her face flashed over the tron.

Punk stood, soaked in the energy from the crowd, and then motioned for the GTS. Without really thinking about it, without a second of hesitation, Bobbi threw herself against the ropes.

"You think your clever?!" She shouted as loud as she could, and Punk turned, dropped Dean, and rushed at the woman on the apron.

His elbow hit the side of her face and a sharp pain exploded on her cheek as she fell to the floor.

By the time she pulled herself back up, Bobbi stared on in horror as Seth lay motionless on the mat, as Roman ducked into the ring, as Dean was thrown for the second time off of CM Punk's shoulders. But this time, Ambrose was cut in half with a spear that wasn't intended for him.

CM Punk made the cover. CM Punk picked up the win.

In disbelief, Bobbi climbed into the ring. She knelt beside Dean's body and placed a gentle hand between his elbow and where he was gripping his ribs, wide, pale green eyes falling across his face as she assessed his pain.

"You good?"

Dean pushed out a breathless "yeah" before she glanced over her shoulder at the smug winner, her stoney face telling the story as it filled the tron once more.

Above her, Seth and Roman bickered. But they'd lost. And that was on them.

—

Seth stood in front of the three of them, Bobbi sitting between Ambrose and Reigns on the blue crate, her hands over her face.

"It happens every once in a while, it's not a big deal—"

"Oh, yeah, yeah my best friend spears me and I get a broken rib," Dean's face was contorted in pain as he interrupted his brother.

"Oh, you act like I did it on purpose." Roman muttered, finally pulling a hand away from his swollen eye. "Things happen! You know, I pull the trigger, I see a spot and I take it — I didn't mean to— I can't see anything right now—"

Dean moaned in pain, but Seth's voice rang out louder. "Look! Hey— hey, come on! CM Punk didn't beat The Shield, you guys—"

"What do I look like, do I look like a target?!"

"Chill out!"

"Friggin' _speared_ me, you speared me in half—"

" _Calm down_!"

Bobbi moaned and finally dropped her hands, brandishing the red and purple bruise on her left cheek. "My head is going to implode if you don't stop complaining."

"Sit down and calm down!" Seth told Dean once more, and the man in question fell heavy against Bobbi's side, head dropping onto her shoulder as he prodded his torso. "The Shield beat The Shield, but guess what, people win the lottery every single week, you know even the Cubs win the world series once a century. CM Punk is not the best in the world, tonight he's the luckiest man alive. Look, this thing," he motioned to Roman's black eye, "is gonna heal up, your face is gonna be fine, Bobbi, and these," Seth gently pressed his fingers against Dean's ribs, "are gonna be alright, okay?"

"Pretty lucky you speared the crap out of me," Dean muttered, sending Bobbi a grimace before standing up again. "That look bad to you?" He had his shirt pulled up, jutting his hip out to push his ribs closer to the man who had speared him.

"We are still the most dominant force in this industry!" Rollins continued as Roman slapped Dean's side softly, the two-toned man's attention finally turning to him. "It's fine, you'll be fine, man. Take it easy. Nothing's gonna stop us, not tonight, not ever, a'right?"

Dean looked back up at Roman with a scowl, fingers still against his ribs. "Just watch where you're going next time, huh?"

"I can't see anything, I got all kinds of fluids pouring outta my eye!" Roman exploded, good eye glaring a hole through Dean's head.

"Hey!" Seth shouted. "Focus!"

Bobbi groaned and pressed a palm to her face. "Shut up, Seth."

"It looks horrible, it looks really bad," Dean muttered, glaring across at Seth when the man slapped his chest. "Touch me like that right now!"

"Believe in The Shield, guys, come on."

Seth held his fist out, Dean's dropping down on it and then Roman's, Bobbi's the last to hit. "We run this joint, we'll be fine, chill out," Seth said, "jeez man! Look at my eye, for cryin' out loud—"

"Really, Rollins? My _cheekbone_ feels like it's split in half!"

Dean turned, his blue eyes catching hers as he chuckled. "You look like someone threw a make-up pallet at you."

She heaved out a breath through her noise, closed her eyes in frustration.

"Spear them next time, see how they like it," Dean muttered at Roman, smirk lingering in Bobbi's direction.

Ambrose cried out when she punched his arm, though. _Sweet revenge._

—

 **Two and a half weeks later…**

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **December 31st**

 **Washington DC**

It had been three RAWs and two SmackDowns since the eventful pay-per-view, and each of the televised shows had demonstrated both their union and the tension, their ability, their inability; a game of cat and mouse between CM Punk and the members of The Shield.

They'd won against Punk and the Uso brothers, lost to Punk, Cena, and Big E Langston, had Punk call out 'the best' wrestler among the three men in the group and completely ignore Bobbi because she didn't have a penis.

The tapings had been, for her, almost uneventful. She missed the days where she would sell a knock out punch or a use her moves on the guys, but she also missed wrestling in general.

So she'd taken that frustration and pushed it into her intense training regime. She was losing muscle weight steadily, preparing for the upcoming feud that was going to happen between the Wyatt family and her boys. If she wanted to last in the ring with someone as athletic as Filipa, then she'd have to cut back on her mass and push her cardio work. It was intense and she was constantly exhausted, but she loved this job and she _loved_ wrestling with Filipa, so it was worth it.

And Dean? Well… that was a whole different story.

His presence in Bobbi's life was something that she craved, but in the two weeks, nothing had changed between them. Their interactions were borderline hysterical when they weren't craving physical release, and that only happened when they weren't exhausted as all hell.

She hadn't been back home to Winthrop Harbour for two weeks either, spending her Christmas mostly asleep and then skyping her mother and telling her to open the two little boxes that were in the closet — one was an elegant and chic scarf, the other held a gorgeous pearl necklace.

Bobbi had also called her brother. He'd improved, but still hadn't called things back on with his girlfriend, and Bobbi was proud of him because of it.

But it was also the middle of winter, and she was _sick_ as a dog. Sat in the empty 'male talent' room with her two long-time friends.

"I feel fucking terrible," she sniffed, holding a tissue to her nose and tipping her head back.

Phil looked at her in sympathy, Bray handing her another tissue. "Your voice doesn't even sound human," Bray teased, gave her a soft smile afterwards. "You'll be over it in no time, doll, it'll be fine."

"And until then, I sound like a fuckin' dinosaur and look like the fuckin' boogie man with snot drippin' out of my nose, my throat is being torn apart by fuckin' sand-paper—"

"I'd tell you to stop talking but that's kind of lost on you, isn't it?"

Bobbi glared across at Phil and he sent her a mocking smile, poking his tongue out as well. "I wish Stephanie would give me the chance to wrestle you out there."

He shrugged. "You're losing too much body weight to stand a chance, Barbara."

Bobbi moaned and fell back down across the hard bench. "Don't remind me about it. I was fuckin' stick thin when Filipa and I had that indie feud a few years back, and she hasn't changed a bit but I need to add more cardio back into my body."

"Was gonna say you're looking a lot less bulky, Bob," Bray offered softly. "It's not a bad thing."

"I know, but I love being able to say that I can last in a match against you guys, you know?"

"Well, actually…"

Bobbi jolted upright at the voice and ripped the tissue ball from her nose, praying that it wouldn't start dripping while she looked at Stephanie McMahon. "Steph!" She exclaimed, "I didn't know you were gonna be here!"

The Creative head looked at the other woman with a smile. "I wasn't going to, but I heard you were sick, so I came to offer a few home remedies to try and quicken your recovery."

"Seriously?" Phil murmured, seemingly unimpressed.

Stephanie sent him a glare. "We care about our talent, Philip."

"Right."

Bobbi sucked in a breath and held another tissue against her nose, sharing a look with Bray. "Let's walk, Steph," Bobbi said quickly, rubbing her hand into Phil's gelled hair and waving at Bray, Steph following her out of the room.

" _So_ ," Stephanie continued, "while I do think you need a lot of rest where you can, you need to work through this because we won't take it easy on you. So try and get a lot of sleep, drink a lot of lemon and honey tea, work out a lot, you know the drill."

Bobbi offered her boss a smile. "Thanks, Steph."

"No worries, Bobbi." She stopped walking, moved to stand in front of the shorter woman, and wrung her hands together. "Now, my father and I were talking a couple of nights ago and the topic of your reception from the WWE Universe came up. The internet absolutely _loves_ you and your potential and they keep blowing up YouTube trying to find videos of you wrestling while you weren't signed with us, but what's really got their attention is a match of you against a guy called BT…"

Pursing her lips, Bobbi tried to stop the smirk. "Yeah, I know the one."

"We want to… _experiment_." Bobbi tilted her head at Stephanie's statement, pale green eyes sparkling because she _knew_ where this was headed. "So we're going to throw you a curveball. We want you to stop dropping muscle weight right now and we want you to get in the ring with Phil and Daniel Bryan and learn from them."

"Really…?"

"What we also want is for you to be comfortable with what is coming up. We're going to ask Filipa to stack on a bit of body weight to match with you in the ring, but we want you to compete in just a couple of inter-gender matches."

"You realise the _only_ woman to do that competitively and get anything out of it is Chyna?" Bobbi's voice was laced with both excitement and anxiety, her eyes shining in anticipation, hands clasped in front of her. "Are you really ready to bend the rules?"

Stephanie nodded, grinned. "We knew this was potentially going to happen when we signed you, but let me make this crystal clear to you, Bobbi; you will _only_ be in a one on one match with Phil, and obviously that will be lost because of a timely interference by the rest of your team-mates." The woman stopped and smiled brightly. "This is a huge opportunity for you, Bobbi, and could legitimise the females division when you finally make that cross. So please… take this and _run_ with it. We're expecting massive things from you."

"No pressure," Bobbi teased. The smile was still wide on her face and she took a deep breath. "Thank you, Steph, really — I won't let you down."

"Good. You can start tonight."

* * *

 **hello! we're back! also welcome to the couple of new followers :)**

 **i figured that i had this chapter just laying around and doing nothing and now we're back at square one with updates; the more reviews, the more inspiration i get to make you guys happy, circle of liffeeee!**

 **to the people who take time to review; Raquel the writer,** thank you! **R1verdance,** you're awesome too! **and T,** sweet and thoughtful are two words that just don't mesh with him but kinda do? it's weird isn't it ;) you are literally amazing, you made my entire week with your review :3

 **review, favourite, follow, hopefully 15 will be done in the next week or so but don't hold your breath! in the meantime, go and checkout my Seth/OC one and my brand new Dean/OC mega!AU one :) love all of you people to the moon and back xx**


	15. Chapter 15

**SmackDown Taping**

 **December 31st**

 **Washington DC**

They were in the middle of the ring. Dean was pacing around crazily, Bobbi was standing next to Seth stoically, Roman was brooding next to her. Silver and black hair tied into a mess of a gathering at the back of her head in a tight pony tail, pale eyes lined in kohl.

"You think we don't know what's going on?" Ambrose said into the microphone. "We've heard the rumblings," he drawled, "throughout the locker room, the rumblings throughout the WWE universe; they say The Shield _isn't on the same page anymore_. They say The Shield is crumbling from within and they say that some egos have gotten out of control."

Bobbi smirked at a fan in the front row who was booing them, eyes glinting in mischief.

"They are _dead wrong_ and CM Punk is _dead wrong_ if he thinks he can divide and conquer The Shield. What CM Punk fails to understand is that The Shield cannot be conquered because The Shield cannot be divided… _right_?" Dean rolled his head, passed the microphone to Roman and went back to pacing around the ring.

"That's absolutely right, Dean. To divide a great team, you have to… _attack_ its weakest link," Reigns sent a smug little grin across his shoulder at Bobbi and Seth. "And as it pertains to The Shield and its so called weak link, I'd say it's pretty obvious. There is none."

The microphone was slid into Bobbi's hand as the powerhouse slipped past her, her face suddenly filling the tron both above her and to her right. "These rumours of a potential _crack_ in The Shield? There is no crack. There is nothing separating us. We fight together, we ride together, we _win_. CM Punk is gonna find out _very_ soon that if he keeps feeding flammables to the fire, he's gonna get swallowed alive."

Seth gently took the microphone from her hand, pushed to the other side of her. "And any setbacks that The Shield has had recently are only _temporary_. Because in the end, we will prevail. Because we will do what _we do best_. _Dominate._ "

Fingers curled around Bobbi's vest and she was pulled into Seth's side, Roman flanking him, Dean opposite her on the other end of their little huddle. His slate blue eyes met hers and he tilted his head, curved the edges of his mouth up.

"Believe that!" Roman yelled, Seth smiling as he looked into the camera one last time, "and believe in The Shield."

—

It was Wednesday and she hadn't been home for going on three weeks now. For Bobbi, that must've been a new record. Instead of finding herself in a nice, comfortable, familiar bed, she found herself halfway across the stupid continent in Tampa, of _all_ places.

Filipa was lucky that Bobbi loved her.

The two women, though keeping in contact, hadn't seen each other much since the younger one had bounced back into Bobbi's life, and to mend that, they were going for lunch.

Donned in her usual green parka coat, some ripped skinny jeans, a loose black top and black boots, she was almost the _opposite_ of Filipa. The young woman, who's hair was now at her ears when it was curled, was dressed in a nice floral chiffon top, some navy skinny jeans, a classy camel coloured coat and matching camel coloured boots. And, of course, the golden pin in her hair that Bobbi had gifted her all those years ago.

"You remembered," she said, eyeing Filipa as they sat across one another at the table.

Filipa shrugged. "I also like it, so it's a win-win."

"Hmm," Bobbi conceded, giving the woman a little smirk. "Sure. How's training going?"

"Good! Stephanie called me the other day and asked me to stack a bit of muscle on—"

"Poor thing."

" _—but_ it's not like I can't do it." Filipa stared at her counter-part for a second. "Just because you're the female equivalent of the Hulk—"

"Am not."

"Are too."

Filipa shifted the glasses on her nose and then turned back to her menu, a little grin falling across her lips that Bobbi easily picked up.

There was no denying that Filipa was absolutely gorgeous. Her pale olive skin, splattered with freckles, was the result of the amount of time she stayed in-doors, but it was also because of her Puerto Rican heritage. With dark eyes that glinted brown in the sunlight and her wavy brown hair, everything about Filipa screamed the opposite where Bobbi was concerned.

"God, you haven't changed a bit."

Filipa glanced up at her friend and let out a little laugh, bit down on her lip. "Don't know whether that's a compliment or not, Bob."

"Compliment," Bobbi smiled. "Met anyone down here you like?"

"Dunno. Sasha's nice, and so is Becky. Charlotte, as well. Paige is like you, but not, I guess." Filipa shrugged again and took a sip of the water in front of her. "And if you're asking whether I've found a boyfriend, I haven't. And I am not interested."

"Ew, men—"

"But Bray's told me that you've got a friend. He made sure to put a lot of _emphasis_ on the word friend, though, so we all know what that means." After a moment of silence, the woman raised her eyebrows. "C'mon, out with it. Who is he, what's his name?"

Bobbi stared across at Filipa, noted the mischievous glint in her dark eyes, and narrowed her own. "Dean."

"Ambrose?"

She hummed in agreement. "The only."

"Isn't that a bit… dangerous?"

Bobbi dropped her eyes and looked at the Italian menu in front of her. "Not really. He's unstable and unpredictable and quiet frankly, a little on the loopy side… I like it."

Filipa stared at her friend with wide brown eyes. " _Seriously_?!"

" _No_ ," she laughed, shaking her head a little. "Nah, that's his gimmick, you twit. He's not at all dangerous unless I get him fired up a bit, and that's happened just _once_ , but apart from that… he's surprisingly gentle. You know, when he's not pounding me against a wall."

" _Okaaay_ ," Filipa drawled, holding a hand over her eyes. "No more, thanks."

Bobbi just sent her a smug looking grin.

"What about Phil? How's he doing?"

Now it was Bobbi's turn to stare at her friend, an eyebrow raised, head tilted to the side, grin playing on her lips. "He's good, Filipa, why do you ask?"

"Just wondering."

"Do you have a crush?" Bobbi wriggled her eyebrows at her friend.

Filipa tried to cover her blush, but it was too late, and looking up at Bobbi's beaming face, Filipa sighed in conceit. "Maybe. I don't know, he's cute. And he's a good friend to you."

"Mmm, he is," she giggled, flicking a strand of silver and black hair back over her shoulder. "I bet he's better in bed—"

"Seriously, Barbara, shut up."

 **RAW Live**

 **January 6th**

 **Baltimore, Maryland**

Bobbi was _so_ excited for the segment The Shield had before their match tonight. She'd grown up watching Roddy Piper and learning from his promos, learning from the way he commanded attention from the live audience, and integrated that into her own style.

Her fangirl moment when she met Adam Copeland was _nothing_ when she met the legend that Roddy Piper was; trembling hands, wide eyes — it was like she was a ten year old again.

Shannon and Stephanie had paired together with a couple of other seamstresses to create Bobbi's new wrestling top; it was just a black version of the one she currently had, but it had a blue Hounds of Justice emblem on the top left breast. It was something new that they'd asked her to try — leaving her vest open.

With Bobbi's hair up in a messy pony tail and her milky skin shining with just a touch of oil, when their music hit the speakers… the hairs on Bobbi's arms stood on end.

This was real.

This was happening.

She was about to live a life long dream.

The thick boots Bobbi wore slapped on the floor as she effortlessly catapulted herself over the metal barricade, pale green eyes boring into Piper's as her face flashed across the tron. She led the pack into the ring, Ambrose close behind her, sitting on the backless chair next to Roman as Dean stared at the Piper's Pit host.

"Who gave this old man a microphone?" He asked seriously, pointing at Roddy as he looked into the crowd. The sleeves of his hoodie were pulled up, resting just below his elbows and his hair was messily strewn across his face. "Hey, we're on live television. We weren't just gonna stand around and wait while you rambled on and on; if you wanna say anything, you should be thanking _God_ that The Shield wasn't around when you were in _your_ prime, because if we were, you may not have made it to a hundred and twelve years old."

Bobbi chuckled, dropped her head to stare at the red apron, playing with the microphone in her hand.

"First of all," Roddy retorted, "no one _chose_ to gave me a microphone, I _took_ it. And this is _Piper's Pit_ , not Ambrose Alley." She watched Dean stick his neck out, vein popping on his neck as he glared at the legend. "Now, if you're finished with the foolishness—"

"Cute," Seth drawled, chuckling when Piper looked over at him.

"Think I'm cute?"

"Yeah, I think you're cute."

Roddy laughed, snorted into the mic. "I admit, I've been beat up. I have _fought_ some guys. Oh my goodness, things don't work quite like they used to, except for my mind is _fine_ ," he drawled loudly, lifting a finger to his head. "And there's only _one_ guy that can match me on the microphone…"

He stepped closer to Dean, now in the lunatic fringe's personal space, and smirked. "And his name is _CM Punk_."

As Roddy Piper taunted Dean, she could see the veins starting to pop in his neck, body shaking with effort not to lash out, hand coming up to rub at his collar bone as he twitched. He glared around the arena, the fans chanting CM Punk, as Piper yelled 'Punk!' at Bobbi, Roman, and Seth.

He pressed his forehead against Dean's, eyes sparkling with fire, and Ambrose lifted the microphone to his mouth. "I think _you_ of all people would know to _tread lightly_ in a situation like you're in, Piper—"

Seth was up and out of his seat, pushing Ambrose away from the legend, yelling "hey, hey, _hey!_ " Rollins chuckled, turned to Piper. "Hot Rod —"

"Yeah?"

"Can I call you Hot Rod?"

"Sure."

"I appreciate what you're _trying_ to do here, but my friend, it's not 1985 anymore. The Shield is too smart for your little tactics, a'right? There _are_ no cracks in The Shield—" he spun on Ambrose, tilted his head. "You know what I think it is? I think it's jealously, a'right? Piper is _jealous_ because _you_ are a better US Champion than he _ever_ was."

"Aw, yeah, that's definitely it, that's definitely a big part of it." Dean conceded, lifting the hem of his hoodie away from the title to show it off to the audience. Lights caught on his cheeks, casting a shadow over his dimples, grin smug.

"Well, let's just hang on a second," Piper drawled, "you may be right. I know something _for sure_. _You_ ," he pointed at Seth, finger right at the man's chin, "one on one, can't beat Punk." He spun, finger at Dean's next. " _You,_ one on one, couldn't beat Punk either."

Dean shook his head, lips pulling back over his teeth and he spat words at the Piper's Pit host.

"Is it bothering ya?" Piper teased, smug grin on his face.

"You!" Roddy turned to Bobbi next as she sat stoically next to Roman, "you've beat up Punk, you've been beaten up by Punk. We'll _assume_ that you, too, one on one, _can't_ beat Punk."

She'd had enough. Bobbi launched off the stool, strong hand flying out in front of her and slapping the microphone from Roddy's hand. The silence was deafening. They stood nose to nose, Bobbi's jaw set as she glared at the legend. The fire in his eyes matched hers.

The microphone she had in her hand was lifted to her mouth, head tilting as she stared the man down. "You wanna say that again, old man? You want to _assume_ I can't beat Punk one on one? I'll _assume_ then, Piper, you haven't seen and have _no idea_ of what I'm capable of. You either do your homework or you can shut your mouth before you continue spewing whatever garbage you think you can get away with. Talk about me like that again and Ambrose won't be the only hound coming for your blood."

Bobbi shoved the microphone against Piper's chest, pale green eyes burning as she glared at him, and then turned, making sure to flick her silver and black hair in such a way it would whip against his face.

For a long moment, there was silence. Then Roddy pursed his lips. "Point made, Arlett. Until _you_ go one on one with Punk, we won't ever know."

Piper seemed a little less giddy than the moment before, but he was still daring enough to reach out and squeeze Roman's cheek between his fingers. " _You…_ you're fighting Punk tonight. Now, let me just ask, if you beat Punk tonight… doesn't that make you _better_ than them?"

Dean and Seth closed in on the legend, Seth adamant that his tactics wouldn't work, but Piper was still talking. "Would that be like a crack in The Shield? Just a second, big guy, are they holding you back?"

Getting once more off the small wooden stool, Bobbi placed a gentle hand against Dean's shoulder, holding him back from doing anything stupid.

"Crack? Crack in The Shield?"

And then Roman got up, intimidating and brooding, walking forward until Roddy had to take a step back.

Bobbi smirked, shared a look with Seth as he cackled.

"I'm gonna beat CM Punk tonight. And if you ever touch me again I'mma break your old ass in half." Roman's voice was deep, not stuttering over a single word, and Roddy made quick time to slip his leather jacket off.

"Hey, uhhh, Roman," Dean drawled, "let's leave a, uh, _memorable_ impression on Mr Piper now…"

And before anything could even happen, CM Punk's music blared across the arena, Dean yelling out in frustration, Seth turning away from what had been their newly assigned target.

In tow behind him were two members of D-Generation X; Billy Gunn and Road Dogg.

While she didn't turn around, while her boys got prepared to try and fend them off, Bobbi stayed planted, her eyes _daring_ the old legend to even try and move.

But quickly, she was the last Shield member left standing in the ring. Her teammates had been thrown out and she could _feel_ the eyes burning into her back, could see the smug look on Roddy Piper's face.

She turned finally, put her hands up lazily beside her to show that she meant no threat as she smirked at Punk, and then rolled out of the ring.

—

There were goosebumps still on her arms as she walked back into the catering area, Seth wrapping an arm around her neck and tugging her in tight against him.

"That was pretty cool, Arlett, you got some _mad_ mic skills," he laughed, shaking her a little bit. "Ever thought about acting?"

"Har-har," she mocked, pushing him away from her.

Dean nudged her shoulder then. "Seriously, Bob, that was cool. I'd pay to see you and Roddy go at each other in a promo battle."

"Yeah, yeah, don't inflate her ego too much," she heard one of the guys say, and looking over her shoulder, Bobbi sent a finger in Dolph Ziggler's direction. He smiled, winked at her, and Bobbi couldn't hold the glare for long before her face split into a grin.

"Fuck off, Dolph, no one asked you."

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **January 7th**

 **Philadelphia, Pennsylvania**

Just like he'd said he would do, Roman Reigns beat Punk in the main event the previous night. They descended from the rafters, Bobbi between Dean and Seth, the first of which with his title clasped around his belt, the latter of which with hair wet as the weather outside the arena.

Stephanie had set her up with a woman named Sandra who ran the clothing department — together, they'd revised her outfit and decided on a couple of changes. The black spandex top she'd received, as well as the cropped leather vest, showcased her soft abs. Swapping out her leather leggings, she was instead in baggy black cargo pants, a leather belt with diamond embroidery holding them up. The dog tags stood out against the sun-kissed skin of her chest and torso, the black tape around her wrists and hands replaced with black leather fingerless gloves.

"This part Monday night was old school RAW," Roman yelled down the microphone in his hand. "A night where we celebrate our history and the legends who own it. Legends like the Nature Boy, Ric Flair… Rowdy Roddy Piper… and how can we forget? Jake 'The Snake' Roberts." Dean muttered incoherently beside Roman, the latter sending his disgruntled brother a smirk. "But with all those legends only one thing mattered. And that was when Roman Reigns pinned CM Punk and became the **_best in the world_**!"

Bobbi laughed at her faction member and rolled her eyes, kicking a heel up onto the ropes nearest to her and bouncing on them.

Dean slipped the mic from Roman's hands with a dimpled grin. And then his whole demeanour changed. "I hate snakes. Scaly, slimy, slitherin', filthy, disgustin', _beady eyed little creatures_ — I don't know how it's _legal_ in this country to own a ten foot python but _somebody's gonna pay for that!_ Do you know what kinda nightmares that gives ya, having one of those things crawl all ova you?" His movements became erratic, hands moving all over his body as he spoke to the people surrounding him. "You know what kinda thoughts that puts in your head, y'know what that does to ya? Huh? You know what I would do? If that snake was here right now, I would _choke that snake out right in the middle of this ring_ —"

Before Dean could go any further, Rollins was coaxing the mic from his grip and Reigns was trying to cool him down. Bobbi simply slapped a hand to his chest, told him to get over it.

"No, no, you try havin' one of those things crawl on _your_ face, okay?" Dean spat back at her, and she shared another amused look with Reigns.

"That was _Monday_ , okay?" Seth called out. " _Tonight_ is not old school RAW. _Tonight_ is not about the history of WWE, _tonight_ is about the _future_ of WWE. Now I'm no Nostradamus but one thing I _do_ know is that the future does not involve the New Age Outlaws. Monday on RAW the Outlaws stuck their noses in _our_ business so _tonight_ it will be our pleasure to put the Road Dogg Jessie James and Billy Gun _out_ of their misery. And as for CM Punk? Well, we'll just do what we do every single time we step into the ring with CM Punk. We'll _break_ him. And we will _prove_ that beyond a shadow of a doubt **_we_** are the future of this company and _no one_ can stop us. _Believe_ in The Shield."

Their four fists joined in the centre of the ring, the crowd booing and jeering the faction loudly.

The match against the New Age Outlaws and CM Punk? Well, the win came without disqualification and sent a _bold_ message that their black-clad stable was as strong as ever — if not more so.

—

"How you going, Bob?"

"Exhausted as all hell," was the first thing out of her mouth. The second? "Also hungry as fuck."

Seth laughed at her, slung his arm around her shoulder as they walked towards catering together. "Good. I didn't want to be the only one pigging out in there."

Bobbi pulled a face, scrunched her nose, arms crossing over her chest. "I would pig out, you know, but apparently I have to be on a diet now if I want to keep my shape."

"You used to be able to eat whatever you wanted—"

"Don't remind me," she sighed longingly.

Laughing at her again, Seth made a sympathetic noise, tugged her against him a little tighter. "Leighla told me that you were aware of the surprise party she threw me."

She hummed in glee. "I'm not saying a word."

"You know it was for our anniversary?"

"Cuties," Bobbi drawled.

The two ducked around a corner and straight away Bobbi's eyes went to the platters of food that were lined up along the table. The plate of what looked to be salad and egg sandwiches _definitely_ had Bobbi's name written all over them and she pushed away from Seth, pulled a plate and stacked a couple on before grabbing a bottle of water.

Taking a seat at a table in the corner, Bobbi waited until Seth sat down before she started to eat.

"So…" Seth started, wriggling his eyebrows at her. "You and Dean-o, how's that going?"

Bobbi rolled her eyes. "Really?"

" _What_? I'm an invested person in this relationship! For both of you!" The was half a smile on his face but Bobbi also knew that he was being serious.

"We've been kinda non-stop for the past two weeks, Rollins, nothing's happened at all."

Seth groaned and dropped his head onto the table. "Not what I meant, Arlett, but thank you for the wonderful image."

"What—"

"I meant romantically-wise, how's it going?"

"Well considering it's not an actual relationship—"

"Might as well be."

Bobbi glared at her friend. "Shut up. It's an exclusive friends with benefits situation and right now that's all I want so that's all I'm getting out of it."

Seth hummed at her, shoved a forkful of meat into his mouth. He chewed pensively, stared at her through narrowed eyes, swallowed. "What does Ambrose want out of it?"

"I…" she trailed off, unsure of how to answer the question. Truth was, she _didn't_ know what he wanted out of it, she'd not even asked him. She'd been the one to lay down the rules and he just followed them. "I don't know, Seth."

"Next port of call is to figure that out then, huh?"

Bobbi narrowed her eyes at Rollins, dropped her sandwich onto the plate. "Why are you asking all of a sudden, Seth? Did Ambrose say something to you?"

"Nah," he replied evenly. "Me and Ro were talking about it the other day, it's just been the same for like, two months? And both of us think you guys would work together just great—"

"Stop."

Seth looked at Bobbi with wide brown eyes, suddenly worried that he'd offended her, but the pale green of her own were almost lifeless. Apathetic.

"Bob…?"

"Change the subject, Rollins, I'm not talking about my personal life anymore."

"That's kinda what friends do…" he trailed off and sighed, took a sip of his coffee. "Look, all I'm sayin' is that it's not a horrible idea."

"Or it could be the worst idea _anyone_ has come up with."

He frowned at her again. "C'mon, Bobbi, it wouldn't be _that_ bad having Ambrose as your boyfriend."

She shook her head, pursed her lips. "The bad part would be Ambrose having me for a girlfriend."

"What?" Seth paused for a second and leant forward, trying to keep their conversation private in the albeit empty room. "Why would you think that?"

"It just would be, Rollins, now _please_ , let's just move onto a different topic."

* * *

 **backbackbackback and feeling fab. half way through this week i got really sick and injured my tailbone at the same time, so i ended up sleeping most of the week and doing absolutely nothing but rewatching and combing through past RAWs and SmackDowns - i actually have to meticulously pick through each and every show so i can work out which ones i want to write and which ones i don't want to write; hard work.**

 **in other news, you'll notice that we skipped two weeks- for my liking, this is just moving to slow and i want to speed things up a bit. i know that i was going to write in a punk v bobbi scene, but that might just have to wait for a little unfortunately. in the mean time, have some more in-ring wrestling action with the late great Roddy Piper (i cried when i found out this morning)**

 **to my reviewers, PinayPrincesa** found the video on youtube a while back and NEW that i had to write it down, it was so natural and wonderful!, **Raquel the writer** thankyou!, **and T** it was so much fun writing the segment omg. the fued with the Wyatt's... GOD ive had a promo by Bray done since like the fourth or fifth chapter and IT'S KILLING ME NOT BEING ABLE TO UPLOAD IT YET.

 **review, follow, favourite, show me love and i'll give you love back 3**


	16. Chapter 16

**RAW Live**

 **January 13th**

 **Providence, Rhode Island**

Another RAW, another appearance with Punk.

Or, really, another match sitting on the sidelines.

"What do you mean I won't wrestle Punk?" Bobbi frowned, staring across at Stephanie with a confused look. "You said I would only wrestle _him_ …"

Stephanie looked guilty, rubbed the back of her neck with a manicured hand. "We're pushing it back. I _promise_ you will have the opportunity to wrestle against some of the guys, but we just don't have the space to fit a match in."

"Steph, I haven't stepped into that ring competitively since my _scripted_ win over the Bella Twins," Bobbi murmured lowly. The frown was etched deeper on her face and she stood with her arms thrown across her chest. "That was almost, what, four months ago? Did I do something wrong? I have the potential, so why don't you just put me in a match against one of the Divas?"

The boss shook her head. "Look, Filipa debuts in less than a month, and at the _most_ , you'll be able to show everyone how talented you are then."

"You may as well make our first match up a Hell in a Cell match! Because by _God_ is that the _only_ way you'll be able to give me _any_ credibility!" Bobbi laughed, tossing her hands up onto her head. She wouldn't cry, but she was _so_ frustrated that she felt like it. Stephanie was staring at her with those large doe eyes and Bobbi had to force herself to look away, take a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but… I signed that contract to wrestle. Not to be a valet."

"Bobbi," Stephanie warned, "you are in the _WWE_ , the _biggest_ sports entertainment brand _in the world_. We understand that you're not happy, but please just bear with us for just a little longer, okay? It'll be worth it in the end, I promise."

Bobbi sucked in another deep breath and threw her hands onto her hips, eyes resigned. "Sorry Steph, I overstepped the line."

But the woman in front of her just smiled. "No, it's okay. I like this passion you have, okay? Make sure you use it when you're out in that ring _wrestling_ , yeah?"

She smiled. "Okay."

When Bobbi found Dean a couple of minutes later, she almost collapsed into him.

He held her without question, let her try and hold back the tears against his shoulder, but when she couldn't he just held her tighter.

—

In the match against CM Punk and the New Age Outlaws, The Shield won cleanly. It did, of course, help that the New Age Outlaws ended up deserting Punk. But it was a clean win nonetheless.

Bobbi was wearing three layers and still felt cold as hell, the gentle scarf wrapped around her neck not helping at all with the wind chill factor as she tossed her bags into the trunk, teeth chattering as she fumbled with a duffle.

"Ready to go?"

She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Dean, glancing at the sleepy Samoan who was standing next to him.

"Who's driving?"

"That would be me, puds," Seth announced as he walked into her line of vision, and she smiled as she threw an arm around Roman's waist.

"Let's get outta here."

The four piled into a car, Roman slipping into the passenger seat while Dean and Bobbi took the back, and then Dean was squeezing her hand, sending her a reassuring smile. She felt deflated and she probably looked it, especially after crying.

"Hey Seth," Dean said, "toss me the AUX cord, I wanna play a song."

Roman moaned. "Please not some 80s shit."

"You shut your mouth, Ro, my music taste is amazing."

Bobbi closed her eyes and laid her head back on the leather rest, kicked her legs up into Dean's lap.

But when the song started, when whistling and clicking and humming filled the car, Bobbi couldn't stop the smile forming on her face. _Really?_ When she gazed at Dean, he was staring right at her with a stupid albeit cute looking grin on his face.

In the front seat, Seth started bopping to the gentle rhythm. Roman sighed happily.

" _Here's a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note, don't worry, be happy_."

The smile deepened on her face, head falling back on the car seat again. Of course he would. Of course Dean would try and make her feel better in this way.

" _In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry we make it double, don't worry… be happy, don't worry be happy now._ "

And when the falsetto hit and both Dean _and_ Seth went along with it, Bobbi couldn't stop the bubble of laughter creeping up her chest. She glanced at the man-child across from her once more before undoing her seat buckle and sliding over, throwing her arms around him for the second time that night.

"Thank you," she breathed into his shoulder. "Thank you, Dean."

—

 **Two weeks later…**

 **RAW Live**

 **January 27th**

 **Cleveland, Ohio**

Phil had left. He'd called her the night before, told her that he was done. And Bobbi had understood, had understood that he didn't enjoy his job anymore and didn't enjoy being strung around all over the place, broken promises and lies around every corner.

He'd been in the company for almost eight years. He reserved the right to decide what his future held and it didn't hold.

But that didn't mean that Bobbi wasn't upset.

Even when she was supposed to act angry and frustrated that the Wyatt Family had ruined her boys' chances of getting into the Elimination Chamber match, she couldn't find the will to rile herself up.

She sat on one of the chairs in catering, fist against her mouth, staring off into nothing. She didn't even notice Wade Barrett walk into the room. But her eyes raised to his when he made straight at her.

The Brit plonked on the chair across from her, a smug smirk pressed across his lips. "How _are_ you, Barbara?"

She didn't answer him. Just stared.

"Not one for words at the moment, are you? You can listen to me then. I see the way you and Ambrose look at each other, the way you are around each other. Have you told him that you break hearts?"

Bobbi remained silent, pale green eyes devoid of emotion, but just his voice grated on her nerves.

"No?" Wade laughed, shook his head. "No, of course not. Why ruin the opportunity for great sex? But let me be the one to warn you, Barbara, the moment you break his heart, you're going to lose it all. Your best friend is gone, you'll lose Rollins and Reigns. You'll have no one, because I don't see you making friends with _any_ of the other sheilas around here."

Wade glanced around the room and then lent back on the seat, folded his arms behind his head. "You can't come crawling back to me, can you? Burnt that bridge a long time ago. You'll probably leave, go back to whatever hole you emerged from in the first place, dance with that history you're so afraid of—"

Bobbi let her arm fall away from her mouth, but her face wasn't one of anger. She was smiling. "It's cute how much I get to you without doing anything."

His lips pursed, smirk turned upside down. Bobbi raised her eyebrows. "It's also cute how you hypothesise this kinda stuff, because it means that you spend an awful long time thinking about it." Her head tilted as she regarded the man in front of her, and then she chuckled. "And it's also cute how you think bringing up my past that you know nothing of will get a reaction out of me."

She could feel the grind of his teeth as he stared at her and then he was shoving his chair back and walking away, his plan failing incredibly quickly.

Bobbi didn't have a chance to commend herself on such a calm reaction. Dean sat down across from her, plate filled with all sorts of food, his eyes trained on the retreating man.

"What the hell was that?"

She shrugged. "He wanted to make me mad again. I think he gets off on it or something."

Dean chuckled and his face relaxed as he chewed into a chicken wing. "So I know you're probably going to shut me down or whatever, but I was thinking the other night—"

"Uh oh."

He glared across at his friend. "Hilarious, Bob. No, I was thinking that I know _nothing_ about you. Like apart from your ticks and mannerisms and how to make you orgasm, and also your brother who you detest and Filipa who you love, I know almost nothing about you."

Bobbi's eyebrows hit her hairline. "You want a life story?"

"Fuck yeah, I want a life story."

Her laughter rang out in the catering room and Dean's questioning gaze was on her face, but she shook her head. "What is there to know? I went to a Maui Thai boxing academy when I was a teenager, fell off the rails for a bit, but then found a wrestling studio in my early twenties and made a name for myself."

"Maui Thai?"

She nodded. "Yeah, my Dad was an instructor and I did a couple of classes a week, and then he had a heart attack and I left to deal with it in my own way."

"And your mom? Like what's your ethnicity?"

"Well, mom's French, dad was half Irish half native Australian. Got mom's eyes, dad's colouring. My hair is naturally like yours, so that's from dad too."

Dean hummed and nodded, took another bite of his lunch before his brown eyes were back on Bobbi. "How about growing up?"

Now _that_ was a simple story she could tell. Her pale green eyes glinted at the memories. "So I grew up in Illinois. My mom was an immigrant, she moved from France with her parents and went to school with Phil's aunty. They became really close friends and Phil spent a lot of time with her, so that's how we became close friends. My dad was working at a beach house at the time and when we were old enough, he'd swing round in this old, beaten up truck and we'd go down to the house and just do a whole lot of nothing. Movie marathons, grappling, reading comics…" Bobbi trailed off and smiled to herself at the memory. "Always movie marathons. God, we would've had a field day if all these superhero movies had been released back then."

When Bobbi looked up, she was met with Dean's warm smile, his blue eyes soft and gentle. But she just shrugged and breathed deeply. "Those were the years. And then my brother? God, he was a handful at the best of times and we always knew he had a short temper, but the first time he snapped and hit his girlfriend, mom wouldn't speak to him for months."

Again Dean hummed at her, nodding his head and raising his eyebrows in understanding.

"And what about you?"

Dean paused at the question. He glanced down at the food on his plate and then at Bobbi and then at the wall behind her head. "Born in a metaphorical gutter. Dad wasn't around, mom was a drug addict, one of my friends had a wrestling video and I got hooked straight away. Literally had to duct tape my TV to a fire escape to get reception. Fuck, everyone at ECW was so angry. It was them against the world. And I was an angry, lonely kid, so I connected to that right away.

"Stayed in Cincinnati until I was sixteen, then drove to Chicago to this massive docking shed and got trained by a couple of ex-wrestling guys. Cody Hawk?" Bobbi nodded at the sound of the familiar name. "Drove for ten hours a day to get paid twenty dollars to wrestle for ten minutes, but it was worth it. I didn't really have a childhood that was… lived out, I guess," he finished, looked at his hands. "I was looking after myself since day one."

She tilted her head at him and smiled softly when his eyes caught hers. "Jon Good became Jon Moxley."

"Somethin' like that," he murmured. "Ashamed of my past, y'know? Like I'm not that person anymore. But there are so many fuckin' YouTube videos and compilations and… it's like I can't escape it."

Bobbi understood exactly where that came from. She'd been so angry at the world after Nathan, had been so angry after Wade. Pushed from one end to another. So angry that she'd been a victim. And she forced that anger into her wrestling and her life until she could learn how to control it. But then that anger had become fear, and Nathan had stayed in her life in a very different way; nightmares.

"I know how that feels," Bobbi chuckled quietly. "Like whatever you do, where ever you go, you can never outrun what happened."

His slate blue eyes lifted to stare into her pale green's, face almost emotionless yet flashing in realisation. "Your nightmares…"

Bobbi drew a long breath, pushed the air out through her nose, lifted a hand to rub her neck. Was she really going to divulge something she never wanted to think about?

"His name was Nathan," she started. "I'll spare you the details, but… it was very physically and emotionally draining. In the worst kind of way. I guess you could call it abusive, but it was so much more intense. That year that I was with him completely ruined me, and then to have to cope with Wade?" Bobbi snorted and shook her head. "I couldn't. I was angry at the world and at men and I didn't have time, but when I tried to move on, become a better person? That was when the nightmares started."

She took another breath. Dean's head tilted as he watched her facial expressions closely. "And now I work with Wade, and like a fucking trigger every time I interact with him, I have nightmares. Not about him, but about Nathan. I can't escape that. So we find ways to deal with it, don't we?"

"How do you deal with it?" Dean's eyes were gentle, voice silken and soft, face curious. He looked like a young boy in that moment and all Bobbi wanted to do was run her fingers through his hair.

"My ways weren't conventional," she huffed with a laugh. "Straight after Nathan, I'd just have sex with every guy I could. Not proud of that, but… whatever." Bobbi's eyes dropped to her hands as she placed them on the table. "But now? I just immerse myself in the present or whatever I can. Sometimes it doesn't work and it sucks absolute dick, but then I remember you dumbasses and distract myself with shit."

Dean smiled at her then. "Dumbass? Me?"

"You betcha."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Arlett."

She poked her tongue out at him with a cheeky grin and turned back to her food, taking a bite of the sandwich she'd long forgotten.

"You help me."

It was out of the blue, almost five minutes after the end of their conversation, but when Bobbi looked up at Dean he was completely serious.

"Huh?"

"You help me cope with it," he said. "I mean, apart from that argument we had last year? I just… whenever I think of it and I get angry, I can just look at you and it'll disappear. Like whatever fire I have, you just replace it with a new one."

Bobbi couldn't think of how to reply. She'd stopped mid-chew, eyes calculating as she gazed at him. He… he was being serious. Dean was being completely serious.

He continued like he hadn't just dropped a bomb shell on her. "I mean, Roman has the same effect. Somethin' about his stability, his strength… it placates me. Somethin' about _your_ strength. I may not know what you went through, darlin', but you're so strong. And it helps me."

Like one hit to her heart right after another. When she'd told Bray and Filipa that what she had with Dean, what she'd _wanted_ with Dean was different to the all the other men she'd been with, it had been based on her personal feelings. Not his. And now that his reflected her own? She didn't know whether it was _that_ that scared her more or the fact that they could both walk away from this hurt.

She felt another weight sink down onto her chest.

—

 **SmackDown Taping  
January 28th**

 **Toledo, Ohio**

"The elimination chamber is a structure and a match _custom made_ for The Shield, so make no mistake about it the stakes on Monday night _couldn't have been any higher._ Because the universe _knows_ ," Dean raised a hand, waved his finger around in a circle, "the Authority _knows_ and Randy Orton _knows_ that if The Shield was unleashed inside that chamber, one of _us_ woulda walked out WWE World Heavyweight Champion."

The crowd jeered Dean, but when he turned and his eyes latched onto Roman's smug face, it was like he narrowed his anger to a needle point. "Oh what, you think it would've been you?" He asked seriously, frown etched onto his face.

Roman pursed his lips. "I don't think so, Dean. I _know_ so."

Dean snorted out a humourless laugh. "Oh you think just cause you set some _record_ for eliminations in the Royal Rumble you woulda walked out the Elimination Chamber champion? I don't think that. I don't think that at all, _bro_."

Bobbi looked at Seth and dragged a hand down her face, hip jutted out, hand on waist.

"Aye, you know what?" He stepped closer into Roman's personal space, face tilted back. "I don't apologise for trying to throw you out of the Rumble."

"Well I'm not gonna apologise for _throwing_ you out of the Rumble. It was every man for himself so stop complainin'."

Dean smirked, shadows casting over his dimples. "Oh that's cute. That's real cute," he murmured lowly. "Hey, next time? Maybe I won't sneak up from behind you, huh, maybe next time I'll do it right to your face."

She felt her eyes roll so heavily into the back of her head that Bobbi thought she could see her brain. Before they could continue their cute little argument, the lone woman in the ring stepped forward and curled her fingers around the top of Dean's tank.

"You guys can argue about this all you want, but right now is _not_ the time," she warned down the mic. Her pale green eyes were focused on Roman's annoyed gaze but then she turned to look at Dean. " _All_ of you got eliminated last night so it's in the past, a'right? Stop trying to pick a fight where you don't need to start one."

Dean went to raise his mic again but Bobbi cut him off right away. "This is _not_ why we're out here, don't waste my time by acting like a child."

His nostrils flared and he stepped forward threateningly, staring down at Bobbi with eyes that flashed dangerously. She didn't back down. The crowd was right behind them, egging them on, and her chest was almost pressed flat against his, but Dean was bouncing on his toes and muttering under his breath, light catching on his cheekbones. And then there was a hand on Bobbi's stomach as she was dragged back.

"Listen to me," Seth said clearly, turning between Bobbi and Dean. "We're The Shield! The most _dominant force_ in the _history_ of this company."

Dean threw his hands up and curled in on himself as he sporadically yelled out, and then he was pacing around and slapping his collarbones, hair flying on his head. Bobbi quickly stepped away from Roman and clasped her hands around the mic, rolled her wrists.

"This is _our_ yard and we have _intruders._ I'm talking about Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Bray Wyatt, the Wyatt Family. And they are the reason we are _not_ in that Elimination Chamber match, and I don't know why they did what they did on Monday and frankly I _don't_ _care_." Seth turned on Roman, stared him right in the eyes. "What I do know is that they _must be dealt with._ "

He spun on the spot, gloved hand finding Dean's chest. "Ambrose, you listen to me. You are the _greatest_ United States Champion I've ever seen, no one even has the _guts_ to challenge you for that belt."

"And Bobbi," she looked across at him then, pale green eyes daring him to piss her off. "You're the _best_ female wrestler in _this company._ Not even the WWE _Diva's Champion_ wants to face off against you."

And, well, that was true at least.

"Roman," Seth continued. "You've been spearing people since _day one_. You had John Cena's hands completely brought apart," he demonstrated with his own hands, then raised his eyes back to the Samoan's, "right before they screwed us. We **_had 'em!_** We were **_this_** _close!_ "

Dean nodded his head, mind on the same track that Seth was on, and then he raised the mic to his mouth. "The Wyatt's want a new world? We'll give 'em a new world! If The Shield isn't gonna win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the Elimination Chamber, we'll do the next best thing. We'll do the _next best thing_. And we will wipe the Wyatt Family **_off the face of the Earth!_** Hey Wyatts, consider _that_ a challenge!"

And then Bobbi's skin crawled. Vickie Guerrero's voice was heard _long_ before she was seen, but there was still a shiver that run up Bobbi's spine.

"Excuse me! _Excuse me!_ "

 _And seriously, what in God's name was she wearing?!_

"Gentlemen! And… Bobbi…" she made a face at the lone female member. "That's a _brilliant_ idea! That's a match that no one _ever_ —"

"Oh, shut up," Bobbi yelled into the microphone. "Nobody _actually_ wants to hear you speak! Just give us the match!"

There was an indignant look on Vickie's face as the audience erupted with cheers, but as soon as the microphone was raised back to her mouth, a heavy guitar strum overtook the speakers, the arena plunged into a green-lit atmosphere.

" _Behold the king… the king of kings…_ "

Bobbi pushed off the far ropes and moved to stand next to Seth, her eyes suddenly lit in attention.

He waited until he was in the ring to start talking. "I understand where you're coming from and I get it, okay? The Wyatts cost you guys an opportunity to be in the Elimination Chamber; the Wyatts effectively cost one of you the opportunity to be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. But here's the thing, guys; it's water under the bridge, alright? Let it go. Let it go, trust me on this. There's no profit in it, there's nothing to benefit from it, there's nothing to gain, okay? Wrong place, wrong time, bad situation, but all there is in this is loss. All there is in this is more problems. Just let it go, alright?"

"Hunter." Seth stepped forward. "With all due respect, you gotta look at this from _our_ perspecti—"

"With all due respect, Seth, I've looked at it from your point of view. But with all due respect… it wasn't a request." Dean made a noise of agitation and his whole body shook with rage, Hunter staring at him impassively. "I'm telling you," he continued, " _let it go_."

Out of the corner of her eye, Bobbi saw Roman take a deep breath. And then he walked forwards three steps, stood almost nose to nose with the COO.

"I don't think you understand, Hunter, we're not askin' for your approval."

Triple H took a deep breath, looked across at Dean. Then at Seth. And finally his eyes landed on her.

Bobbi pursed her lips, tilted her head and raised a shoulder. "It'd be best to give them what they want, Hunter, or they'll tear this place to the ground until you do."

And then he smirked. "Alright. Can see that there's no talking you outta this, right? If that's the way it's gonna be, if this fight is gonna go down no matter what than I might as well profit from it. Is this what you want? Is this what _you_ want?" He was speaking to the audience and they _roared_ back at him. "You wanna see the Wyatts and The Shield go at it? Then I'll do what's best for business; at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view it will be all three male members of The Shield against all three members of the Wyatt Family."

He paused, looked at the three men in front of him. "Hope you know what you're doing."

—

The next time they graced the ring with their presence, it was for a match. Shoulder to shoulder they stood, Bobbi between Seth and Roman, until an organ disrupted the sound of their theme, images flashing across the tron.

All of them turned, all of them were met with the sight of the lambs mask.

"I… _admire_ your courage," Bray murmured as he walked into the frame. "Surely _normal_ men would lose sleep at just the mere _thought_ of dancing with reapers. But _war,_ justice, that's y'alls game, man, I dig it. _I_ like games too! War? Ooh, that's my favourite." He laughed, he thrown back. "My soul smiles at just the _thought_ of your quivering hands waving those white flags high in the air…"

She could barely see Luke Harper, but he was there nonetheless. "You reap what you sow. You three boys picked a _beautiful_ hill to die on, and you, miss, chose a wonderful vantage to watch from."

"I would advise y'all to be careful inviting the devil in your backyard, 'cause… he may just like it and decide to stay," his voice was nothing but a whisper, yet they heard him loud and clear.

And then he walked away, but the lamb was quick to force his way into focus. " _Run_."

But their win showed both the Wyatts and the world that they weren't going anywhere.

* * *

 **another decent skip in time! i promise it's all to make this move faster! so bobbi finally tells dean a little bit about nathan which is what i like to call character progress- also a decent chunk of a promo/segment that i enjoyed writing. i might touch a little on punk's sudden departure, i might not, but he'll definitely be back so don't be bummed!**

 **to my wonderful reviewers; PinayPrincesa,** he might just! he might not... time will tell :); **Raquel the writer,** thankyou!; **and T** , good to be back to normal, definitely caught up on some much needed rest and feel much better. and i may have just taken you up on your idea (again!) heheh thank you for your ideas, they really do inspire me!

 **dont be afraid to drop a comment because i love talking to you people, also hit me up on twitter (link on my profile) if you so desire! :)  
peace xoxo**


	17. Chapter 17

Bobbi liked to watch Dean sleep. Probably in an awkward, stalker-ish way, but still — the relaxed features, his soft snoring. It was endearing. He was never quiet around her anymore and the only time she got to see him so peaceful, so blissful… was when he was sleeping next to her. Soft chest rising and falling with every breath, mouth slightly parted.

Nothing had changed.

From the very first night they shared the same bed, nothing had changed with the way that Dean slept with her. He'd fall asleep with his back against hers and then sometimes toss and turn, sometimes he'd just roll over onto his back in the middle of the night and throw his arm out or leg out so that at least _some_ part of him was touching her body. He'd never spoon her, was always too hot for that, but sometimes when she curled up against his side he wouldn't move.

And now he was on his back, his arm curled under his head and his right leg under her left.

So Bobbi watched him, trailed her eyes across the line of his arm and then cuddled into his side a bit more when she was sure he was still fast asleep.

It was peculiar, their relationship; when it was hot, it was _hot_ , but when they were both exhausted _nothing_ would happen. With Phil gone now, Dean was slowly becoming her best friend and she didn't mind that at all. They bickered like they'd known each other for years, trusted each other in silent company.

She'd lost a bet to him one night, was too drunk to remember what about, but sobered up enough to understand that part of her loss meant that she had to give him a lap dance.

Automatically, her mind had gone right to the stripper fiction a fan had written about Dean.

But she had to do it, regardless, because she was a good sport like that.

So dressed in nothing more than her usual sleeping shirt and tiny cotton shorts, Bobbi had dragged a chair out from the table in their hotel room and pushed him down onto it, released her hair from the loose top knot and threw some Chris Isaak on.

With his eager eyes waiting, Bobbi had turned her back to him began with a slow roll of her hips, threw her head back, trailed her hands down the line of her neck. She spun, locked her pale green eyes onto Dean's. Walked forwards. Threw her leg over one of his and sunk down onto his leg.

His groan was loud as Bobbi rolled her hips against his thigh and then she leant towards him to ghost her lips along his neck. She smirked when she saw the visible shiver move down his spine.

"You might not last the dance," Bobbi teased as she stood, trailing her hands down across Dean's thighs.

His only response was to suck his bottom lip into his mouth, lift his hooded eyes back to her face.

Bobbi snapped his legs open and spun, dropped to the floor only to raise again, this time gently pushing the curve of her ass against his tense body.

Hooking a smooth leg around his for support and twisting her ankle around his, Bobbi leant back until she was flush against him. His breath on her neck, hands on her hips, fingers pressing into her skin. She tilted her head slightly and pushed her lips against his neck.

Now Dean's breath was heavier, his body more tense as he tried to control himself. He was half-hard and pressing into her ass and she smiled against his skin as she dragged her tongue over his pulse.

"I swear—" Dean broke off as Bobbi reached up with a hand and twisted his chin towards her, catching his lips in a deliberately drawn out kiss.

And _God,_ was this turning out to be something that she enjoyed. "Maybe I'll do this more often," she breathed against his lips, "I like how you react to me."

His tongue slid against hers, breaths mingled, and when his hands slid between her thighs she gently rolled her ass back against his crotch in a slow roll. Dean moaned into her mouth and pushed his hands further up, pushed between the material and his skin, sunk a long finger between her folds and Bobbi broke the kiss with a gasp as her head rolled back against his shoulder.

But he didn't stop and short of tearing the material from her body, she knew eventually he was going to go a lot further than she'd bargained for.

With the hand not between her legs, Dean cupped a bare breast, massaged the tender and erect nipple, sucked a mark onto her collarbone.

Finding all the strength she had, Bobbi pushed away from him and regained her composure. She wasn't going to stop until Dean had reached his absolute _limit,_ and when he opened his eyes, Bobbi cracked a smile at the look of questioning.

"Not done yet," she murmured slowly.

Swaying her hips as she walked around his seated body, Bobbi stopped when she stood behind him, ran her hands over the expanse of his smooth shoulders. She leant forwards until her nose was against his ear and trailed her hands up his thighs again, listening to the way his breath hitched, watched his hands as he placed them over hers. With one swift move, Dean had pressed her hands against his crotch and lifted his hips up for friction. His voice was low and gravelly as he moaned and Bobbi's toes curled.

Slowly, she inched her chin forwards until her lips were against his ear, then lightly grazed her teeth over the pierced lobe.

And that was it.

He was off the chair, spinning, hands curling around her thighs as he lifted her smaller body, slamming her back against the wall, hips pushing harshly against hers. Bobbi's gasp of pleasure and pain were swallowed by his mouth. His lips were hard, the kiss passionate and sloppy, his unspoken lust clear.

When he broke away from Bobbi, his gyrated his crotch against hers, smirked at the way her mouth dropped in a noiseless moan.

"Think you're so clever, huh?" Dean growled, "Think you're so fuckin' irresistible, think I won't snap, think I won't take what I want—"

One of his hands moved, thumb pressing against her throat, fingers curled around the back of her neck.

Bobbi just smirked at him.

She remembered when she woke up the morning after, her thighs had been littered with bruises, her whole body aching with what Dean had put her through. He'd be rough, uncaring, selfish, but also selfless. The orgasms, because there had been multiple, had been the best yet, incredibly heavy and borderline violent, her body glowing white hot, legs quivering, breath not coming until she was down.

Jesus, when Dean did it hard and relentlessly? That was her favourite.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **February 3rd**

 **Omaha, Nebraska**

"So, what do you think?"

Filipa was looking around the arena with big eyes, smile almost threatening to split her face in half. The arena was empty apart from the few people who were still setting up the ring. But it was massive, something that Bobbi liked to look out at before people started streaming in. The empty space gave her a sense of calm, like one before the storm.

"This is amazing," she breathed slowly, spinning to look at the tron behind her. "That thing's fuckin' huge…"

Bobbi let go of a small chuckle, pulled the hoodie tighter around her body. "It's amazing, Pip. When the atmosphere is good, when it's electric, God, I feel it for the rest of the week."

"I can imagine…"

"Are you looking forward to tomorrow night?" Bobbi asked.

Filipa's eyes widened as she looked back at her friend. "Fuck yeah, Bob, beyond excited. This has been my dream for how long? God, how the fuck did I even get here?"

Bobbi laughed and slung her arm over Filipa's shoulders, turning so they were both staring at the empty rows of chairs. "Your parents would be proud of you, Pip, so fuckin' proud."

"Yeah," Filipa murmured, smile ghosting across her lips. "Yeah, they would be."

—

After going through the night with the roster, Bobbi found herself once more in the guys' locker room. She was yet to change into her gear but had almost an hour to do that. Instead, she was on her phone, texting her brother while half listening to the conversation between the boys.

"So what, I steal your pin?" Dean laughed, eyes glinting in mischief. "God, they're makin' me look like such a tool."

"Don't need any help with that," Roman easily shot back. Dean made a sound of hurt but Roman kept talking like he hadn't hurt it. "So you take my pin, tension through the roof, Bray gives his promo. All we gotta do is stand and look pretty."

Seth snorted, his dark eyes fixing on Bobbi. "Let her be the one to look pretty, I'm a fuckin' manly man—"

"Jesus Christ," Bobbi laughed, "manly man? Where the fuck did you get that from?"

"Does it matter?"

"Fuckin' manly man," she laughed again, throwing her head back against the wall. "God, do you carry all the shopping bags in one trip? Never ask for directions?" Bobbi made a noise akin to a gasp and looked at the two toned man with big eyes. "Oh my God, you've got a tiny penis and have to make up for it with the size of your masculinity!"

Seth was after her then, jumping off the seat he was on and chasing her around the small locker room.

"You're dead, Arlett!" He yelled, and Bobbi squealed as a hand twisted in her shirt. But she didn't end up in Seth's evil clutches; instead, she was on Dean's lap with his arms wrapped tight around her waist.

He laughed in her ear, said "don't worry man, I got her."

Bobbi poked her tongue out at the youngest man and then wriggled her eyebrows. "How manly of you."

But when she looked across at Roman, her favourite Samoan was frowning at her, eye laced with concern. "What?" She asked, tilting her head.

"You're getting really thin."

She sighed, shrugged. "Lost a lost of muscle weight so I can wrestle with Filipa when she starts."

Yet Roman was still frowning. "How are you supposed to protect us then from the bad guys?"

"We _are_ the bad guys," Bobbi laughed, shaking her head. "If you're that worried, go talk to Steph."

"Yeah, yeah," he rolled his eyes. "I'm just worried that you're bones will snap like a twig if I spear you the wrong way. At least when you had abs—"

Bobbi pushed from Dean, ripped her shirt up. "What are these?! I still have abs, you fucker! Geez, fuckin' three months ago I was getting compared to a man and now I'm too thin?"

"That's not—"

"I know that's not what you meant," Bobbi cut him off, walked back to her phone and where she was originally sitting. "But the more weight I drop, the longer I can last in a ring, the faster I can move, it's not a horrible thing, okay?"

"Okay…"

Her phone dinged and she dislodged herself from the new conversation, her eyes lifting back to stare at Dean. He looked no different except that he was popping his phone back into his pocket, eyes glinting with mischief.

 _I like it._

Bobbi's eyes almost rolled back into her head, but she tapped out her reply anyway.

 _You like my ass._

 _That too._

—

They were stood in the centre of the ring, Bobbi with her hands pressing Dean back in order to keep him and Roman apart, her face pulled into a scowl.

The crowd were egging them on, itching for a breakdown in the ranks of The Shield, but that wasn't going to happen.

Instead, darkness flooded the arena, the low bass of the Wyatt Family's song booming through the stadium. Their spokesperson and leader was lit with the light from the lantern, the crowd flashing their phone lights and swaying them like fireflies.

When he was sat in his chair, a spotlight flooded him. The promo would happen with the arena shrouded in black, only Bray Wyatt and the ring lit.

On the titantron, the four black clad members were standing together, Bobbi's hand now curled into Dean's shirt as a form of reassurance that he was actually there.

"The Shield…" Bray began softly, "you believe you are untouchable, but you die every night and are reborn at dawn; you are a walking graveyard, an army of yesterdays ghosts and your own reapings, and you no longer remember who you were at the beginning, but oh, boys, do _not weep_ for the stranger that once inhabited your bones," he broke off into a quiet laugh, shook his head.

Dean seethed, pushed away from Bobbi and paced around the ring as his arm twitched in agitation, and suddenly the cult's spokesperson had zeroed in on him, head tilted as he watched the unstable mannerisms. "Oh, you poor, poor thing," he laughed, "all _you_ have _ever_ wanted was sunlight, but all you ever get is _thunderstorms_ , and these _clouds_ above your head are heavy with _loneliness,_ so you find solstice in in being on the brink of death."

It was then that Dean stopped moving and his messy hair fell to his forehead as his head fell to look at the man on the chair. Bobbi stepped forward, pulled Dean back by the shoulder so he wouldn't launch over the ropes and start a fight.

"The Shield, I understand you more than you can _possibly_ comprehend," he laughed again. "I got your blueprint stamped in my brain. And I know whatcha are; you're puppets. Pawns. You move forwards, _never_ backwards, clawing on your hands and knees towards that moment, towards that beautiful moment… where you sacrifice yourselves in the name of your king."

He rocked forwards on the chair. "But here's something that I know that you don't; your moment is closer than you think. And I will build my empire next to the sea and I will _smile_ as I watch my enemies drown."

Bray laughed again, but then Harper stepped forwards, eyes black in the shadows. "Is it worth it? What you three _fail_ to realise is that he," his big hand rested on Bray's shoulder, "has always been the king."

"And _you_ ," Bray almost yelled down the microphone, eyes now latched onto Bobbi. "Barbara, you are of a different breed, you lead your pawns into the fire and they blindly follow you, Barbara, you are made of a thousand shattered mirrors and you're soul is _begging_ to be released, but I am so dirty, so unworthy of curing you. Barbara, I've felt what you feel right now, I didn't understand as I do now what she was curing me of, but you'll see, you'll feel it."

He rocked forward on his chair, face filling the titantron behind him, and stared deep into the flames of the fire he'd just lit.

"Sister Abigail…" Bray Wyatt whispered, "it's time for you to come home."

" _Run_."

—

When they got behind the curtain, the four were rushed towards a filming station near some closed off area of the backstage halls to film their promo against the Wyatts.

" _Ooooohhh,_ " Dean started, wriggling his fingers in front of the camera as it focused on him. "We're so scared of you, Bray Wyatt… listen up bald head. We don't live in your little fantasy world with monsters and evil spirits and lamb masks and haunted rocking chairs. So _take that crap somewhere else!_ "

Roman couldn't hold in his chuckle and then Seth pushed into frame and spoke lowly. "Bray… you're _real_ good at spewin' rederick and comin' up with little analogies for what you _think_ is goin' on. But _man,_ " he drew the word out, tilted his head, "you are so delusional, you are a figment of your _own_ imagination and the grandest illusion that you've _ever_ come up with is that you think you and your little _family_ can _hang_ with The Shield."

"Take a look around, Wyatts," Roman continued, "you're standing in The Shield's yard now, and we don't play games. Come Elimination Chamber, playtime's over."

Dean slapped his fist against an open hand, pursed his lips. She stood between him and Roman, face like stone as she glared into the lens. "Bray Wyatt. If you think that by calling me Barbara you suddenly have a step up on my psyche, you're dead wrong. These boys don't follow me; we walk in a line, a front poised for battle, kings of the yard. The only thing I'm going to feel is sinking my fist into your face, so you can _call_ your Sister Abigail forward and pray to the devil that she can stop me." Bobbi smirked, her lips curving up dangerously. "We're not running. We're locked on and ready, our aim is set on putting you out of your misery, so you better _believe_ that. And _believe_ in The Shield."

When the camera panned down, their fists showed the union of The Shield.

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **February 4th**

 **Des Moines, Iowa**

Again, the two completely different factions had business to attend to tonight.

The Shield was opening the night against Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston, Seth perched at commentary while Bobbi prowled ringside. It wasn't until the four of them were standing in the ring, Dean talking his head off and spittin' words at Roman who was just smirking, that that lights were switched off, the arena shrouded in darkness.

Bray was laughing, pacing between Rowan and a whistling Harper. "Look at y'all," he said slowly, "bickerin', like children. Consumed with pride, beatin' your chests at one another trying to see who in The Shield… has the _sharpest_ teeth." He wagged a finger, tsked, and Bobbi sauntered to the ropes, grabbed on and yelled out at him to do it to their face. "Fools."

He spun, looked at Harper. " _They_ believe me to be a façade! A joke!" Again he laughed. "No. If you could only see the monster that lives behind my eyes, then you'd realise how real I am."

"Those that deny us…" Luke Harper said, "you will be the first ones to burn."

"Do you look into the mirror to remind yourself that you're there?" The voice was feminine, silky smooth, and Bobbi slowly dropped her hands from the rope, hands clenching into fists. "Kiss the ground, remind yourself that you're standing on what has helped sustain you?"

When the vision panned from Bray's smirking face to the woman who was just a figure, whispers echoed around the arena. But she still continued. "The both of us are surrounded by monsters, Bobbi, but I'm the only one that you should be worried about."

Their quick montage flashed across the screen and when the lights switched back on, Bobbi was on the tron, her pale green eyes and face almost shocked with what had just happened, like she'd seen a ghost.

And she may as well have.

—

Bobbi gave Filipa a long hug before she was set to go out. It wasn't that the woman was set to do something big — in fact, she was just supposed to sit in the rocking chair with a wide brim hat pulled low across her eyes. But she was still nervous and Bobbi understood the exact feeling.

She ducked around to where the rest of her boys were waiting for her to pre-tape the promo they'd show after the Wyatts picked up the win.

"Wyatts!" Dean yelled. "Bickering children? That's cute, that you think you can say that to us. But watch it, 'cause you're talking to the _hounds,_ Wyatt Family! You think we're too full of our own pride, you're right! We are. We have a lot of pride… because we are the _best_ unit in this industry 'n when we get you in the ring at Elimination Chamber… we _own_ you."

Seth grabbed the camera, pulled it to face him. "We don't care whether you're monsters or men. We are _not_ afraid of _you_. I'm gonna scrap the beards off your faces with the bottom of my boot for _one reason!_ You cost us the opportunity to be in the Elimination Chamber."

"But you just don't seem to understand." Roman growled, flashed his teeth aggressively. "One of _us_ woulda become WWE World Heavyweight Champion. But fortunately for us we know a few methods for making people understand."

Dean laughed, the humourless sound sending a shiver down Bobbi's spine. "So now it's time for some justice, boys!"

And in what was becoming a habit, Bobbi slowly grabbed the camera until it had turned to focus on her. The look in her eyes was akin to danger, to something that was closer to homicidal than to anger. "Here's what _you_ don't understand, Sister Abigail. From day one, I've said that if anyone stepped into the ring with me, they court death. The monster in this equation? It's not you. Make me mad and you'll find out exactly how far you can push me before you can't stop me ripping you apart."

"Believe that. Believe in The Shield."

—

 **oh my lordy. okay. so that chapter took a while… ill be honest with you when i say i just lost all of my inspiration for my writing bc ive been stressed with uni, at least i got something out, yeah?**

 **also does anyone wanna write a story for Filipa?**

 **the famous bray wyatt promo that i've had written for ten chapters is now out (the RAW one)! let me know what you think of it, because apart from a couple of his sentences, i completely scrapped what he said and threw my own stuff in. plus, we get to see sister abigail! what do you guys imagine her as? looking like? i can't picture it, honestly, so give me some pointers!**

 **thanks to my reviewers and welcome to new readers! thank you Raquel the writer and T (** much excitement for what's about to happen with Bobbi and Filipa, much excitement for the next chapter huehuehue)


	18. Chapter 18

**RAW Live**

 **February 10th**

 **Los Angeles, California**

"Hey, buttercup," Bobbi said down the phone line. "How you going?"

Her niece was on the other line, Vanessa full of an energy that almost seemed palpable. "It was so cool, Aunty Bob, at school today, Jayden and Nathan and VJ were making fun of this girl because she forgot to pack her lunch and then I remembered how scary Roman is and I pretended I was him and I walked up to them and told them to go away and leave her alone or I'd get you to send Roman down here to beat them up and they ran away so fast! It was awesome!"

Bobbi chuckled, threw her head back against the arena wall she was resting on. "Sounds pretty cool, Ness! Your mom letting you watch me these days?"

"Yeah! She knows that I love you!" Vanessa giggled and Bobbi could hear the young girls mother speaking in the background. "She says that the last time I couldn't watch you, I got really upset and it scared her."

"You're not causing your poor mother any trouble are you, Vanessa?"

In the background came a faint yell of "it's like living in a zoo" and Bobbi laughed loudly. "It's not that bad!" Vanessa tried to defend herself. "Plus, momma said that if I'm a good girl, I can come watch you for my birthday!"

"Speaking of that," Bobbi said, "pop your mother on the phone for a chat, yeah? I promise it'll be quick and then you can ask me anything you want about Roman!"

The young girl aggressively agreed to the deal and with a shuffle of noise, she could hear Heather thanking her daughter. "Hey Barbara, how're you going?"

"Yeah, can't complain. Listen, while I remember, I've got this idea for Vanessa for her birthday, but I just wanted to run in past you."

"Go ahead!"

Bobbi smiled, eyes glinting with excitement. "Her birthday is during Wrestlemania week, so I was thinking I could fly you guys down from Nashville after her birthday, spend some time with her, she can meet some of her heroes—"

"Bobbi, _you_ are her hero. She doesn't ever stop talkin' about you, honey." Heather took a deep breath and Bobbi could almost imagine her trailing a hand down her arm. "Let me think about it, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course!"

"I like the idea, but she hasn't been on a plane before and I don't know how she'll react, and besides that— I couldn't leave Marcus here by himself and I'd only be able to be gone for a few—"

The smile on her face was genuine. Heather was so down to earth, so immersed in life and being reasonable and responsible. She was _definitely_ a mother, the whole _who, what, where, when_ thing down like the back of her hand. "Heather," Bobbi said bemusedly, "I have a _lot_ of miles I can redeem on American Airlines, so that's no big deal. Plus, the company would be more than happy to sort out some cheap apartments for the night. Fly in the morning, leave the next night; two days sounds alright, doesn't it?"

Heather hummed. "Let me think about it, Bobbi, I'll get back to you on it." There was a gentle yell in the background. "In the meantime, someone is getting a bit antsy."

"Pop her on," the silver-haired woman laughed.

—

Almost half an hour later and Bobbi was sat in front of a broadcasting television, eagerly awaiting Filipa's live debut with a wide smile on her face.

"God, you're makin' me nervous," Dean said beside her, hand heavy on her thigh, eyebrows creasing together.

She only shrugged.

Rey Mysterio and the Rhodes brothers were already out in the ring, and when the lights went out and Bray's face filled the screen, Bobbi couldn't hold in the squeal burning up her throat. The bass echoed around the arena, settled into her bones and her muscles, synched with her heart. Filipa was alongside him, a black hood pulled low across her face.

Instead taking a seat in the rocking chair, Bray let the lone woman sink into it, knelt before her and placed the lantern into her hands. Filipa was quick to switch it off. The music stopped, the light flooded the arena. And the audience was granted the first _real_ look at Bray Wyatt's saviour Sister Abigail.

There were natural ringlet curls in her hair, eyes that hid under the hood barely seen, not even the slightest of a curl against her lips. No, she didn't look menacing or innocent; she looked haunting.

"Fuck, they did a good job," Dean breathed out.

While the Wyatt men walked forward, Rowan made the effort to gently fall to his knees in front of Filipa and hand her the sheep mask he was wearing.

As the match progressed, there were occasional camera pans to Sister Abigail. She sat there, elbow against the arm rest and fingers gently brushing across her lips. She looked brooding, almost dangerous in a way, and each time her family would take control of the match, the curl of the corner of her mouth was easily seen.

When Mysterio was tagged in, Bobbi watched in anticipation as Filipa finally stood from the rocking chair. The cape she was wearing cascaded to the floor and she pushed the hood back slowly over her face and unclasped the rest, removing the material from her body entirely.

The crowd didn't gasp — in fact, they were almost silent. The long scar down Filipa's arm was the real deal, puckered and pink and not really the prettiest to look at but hard to look away from.

Beside her, Dean blew out of his mouth heavily. "What the hell's that from?"

"Long story," Bobbi replied, pushing the answer as far from her mind for the moment while she watched her friend's next moves.

Mysterio had both Bray and Luke on the ropes in an attempt for a 619, but what he didn't see was Filipa easily slide onto the apron and stand between the Wyatt men. When Rey rebounded off the far ropes, he skidded to a halt, his blue eyes staring across into the dark abyss of Filipa's. He wouldn't do the 619 and hurt her.

Bobbi watched as the ring descended into a chaotic state, Rowan easily wrapping his large hands around Filipa's waist to lift her out of harms way, but was caught by a flying Cody Rhodes. Bray used the opportunity to slip out, fling Goldust against the barricades.

The Wyatt spokesperson slid back into the ring as the legal man and hit Rey Mysterio with the Sister Abigail so quickly and harshly that the small man probably had no idea what had just hit him.

The three count was made. The match was won.

Filipa slipped into the ring with her eyes locked on Bray Wyatt and then she tilted her head, mouthed something along the lines of 'again'. The man's smile was borderline scary.

He lifted Rey Mysterio back up and hooked an arm around the back of his head, bent him over his hip. And then Filipa stepped forward, pressed her lips against the superstars forehead, and let Bray spin him into the mat one more time.

And that was what coined the term 'Abigail's kiss of death'.

Bobbi wriggled in delight, smile beaming across her face as Bray was handed a microphone.

"They've played this game with me before, Shield," Bray panted into the mic, "and they… have _all_ … _failed_. You?! You will be _no different,_ you will be tiny little toy soldiers tryin' to play a part in a war that is not meant for you— _you… will… fall_. Right in time for my next game to begin." He laughed, gazed up at Filipa in admiration. "Follow… the buzzards."

—

Dean's open challenge for the United States Champion left him standing in the ring anxiously awaiting his opponent. He was cocky, almost, and Bobbi shared a look with Seth who was standing beside her. Yet when Mark Henry's music hit the speakers, for some reason, all that cockiness fled Dean's body.

His eyes slammed shut, fists coming together and pressing against his mouth. Bobbi let go of a raucous laugh and threw her head back to stare at the ceiling.

When she left the ring, Bobbi pushed Roman's shoulder. "Was this your plan all along?"

Roman just shrugged.

The bell rung and Dean looked _petrified_. But Seth and Roman were smirking, enjoying themselves at their brothers expense.

Locking up for the first time led to Ambrose being thrown across the ring. Locking up for the second time led to Ambrose being thrown _from_ the ring. Stumbling back into the barricade between Rollins and Reigns, he tried to regain some kind of composure. And when he slate blue eyes looked onto Bobbi's, recognised the smirk on her face, he pouted. "Try not to look like you're enjoying this too much," he bitterly said.

As the match continued, as momentum went back and forth between the unstable Ambrose and the worlds strongest man, Bobbi couldn't help but send a look at Reigns.

"If something goes wrong—"

Roman shook his head. "He's got this."

Mark Henry threw Dean off the top rope and Bobbi looked back at Roman. "Yeah, he's got this."

The sarcasm dripped from her voice and when Bobbi watched as Henry delivered the World's Strongest Slam, she didn't waste a second. The moment her boot smacked across Henry's head the match was over. But it also meant the the US Championship Title stayed with Ambrose.

Without even looking like the impact had hurt him, Henry effortlessly lifted Bobbi with his good arm and tossed her over the top ropes before either of her brothers could help her out.

Landing with a thud, Bobbi rolled until she was resting against the barricade, voices pouring down on top of her, yet her eyes were still watching exactly what was happening. Seth had ran in and been tossed out, much the same as she had, and Roman followed suit quickly after. Now, all the members of The Shield were on the floor. Henry lowered himself from the ring and twisted his hands in Ambrose's hair, but Seth was quick to jump on his back and lock in a chokehold.

Bobbi used the distraction to pull Dean closer to her, tugging him out of harms way. Henry wrapped his large hands around Rollins' head and tossed him off. And when he turned around, Roman flew into him with a spear.

"Get up." Bobbi told Dean, glaring at him as hard as she could.

When they were both standing, Roman wrapped an arm around her neck, hand on her silver hair, and pressed a quick peck into her head. "You're lucky I love you," he murmured.

Walking together past the time keepers area and grabbing Dean's championship left them walking towards the way they had entered. And when they'd finally vaulted over the barricade, the Wyatt Family montage flashed across the screen and the arena was thrown into darkness.

They announced their arrival. Walked out to the sound of their theme. Bobbi's jaw locked as she gazed at the lone female on the other side of the ring.

She was the first one to leap over the barricade. Her brothers followed her, joined her as she stood at the apron. The cameras moved back and forth between Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns, but what they should have been focusing on was the challenge in Abigail's eyes, the challenge that seemed to only be for Bobbi. The woman had the cloak draped back over her shoulders but the hood didn't cover a thing.

The crowd was going crazy, even more so when Roman stepped up onto the apron and the remaining Shield members followed him.

And almost when she thought the audience couldn't get any louder, the Wyatt Family copied their moves. Dean was lined up with Rowan. Reigns was lined up Bray. Seth with Harper. Female against female.

Sister Abigail was the first one to make a move. She slipped into the ring, almost like she was trying to get a better look at Bobbi, and then her lips curved when Bobbi pushed past Roman's warning hand and stalked up to her, nose to nose, eye's burning with dare. There were tingles running along her spine. More screams, then, as Roman and Dean and Seth moved to stand behind her.

But the Wyatt member didn't stand down. She didn't even look away from Bobbi.

For what felt like a lifetime, the two females just stared at each other. The tension was palpable.

And then Abigail smirked, walked backwards, slipped under the ropes to the sound of the audience booing, and walked away. The rest of the Wyatt family were quick to follow.

Bobbi's eyes flashed with uneasiness and Roman laid a hand down on her shoulder. Her hair was on end as she watched the woman retreat, and it became very apparent in that single moment that Sister Abigail had some kind of hold over The Shield member.

—

"So, how'd it feel?"

Filipa sighed dreamily and dropped her head on Bobbi's shoulder. "Amazing."

"That audience tonight," Bray whistled, laughed. "They were electric, doll, you got it good."

"Did I do okay, though?"

"You did fine!" Bobbi reassured her. She wriggled her eyebrows. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow night though, ya minx."

The woman groaned, shoved her friend away. "Are you sure you don't mind me doin' it?"

"Not at all," Bobbi replied easily, "it's for a storyline, Pip, and it's not like we're exclusive or anything."

Dean piped up from behind them and Bobbi could literally _hear_ the shit eating grin on his face. "You could ask me! I mean, not that I mind havin' a beautiful lady—"

"Shut up, man," Roman murmured from beside him. "Can we go yet?"

Bobbi laughed and gave her friend a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, Pip."

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **February 11th**

 **Ontario, California**

They were opening the night, black cargo pants moving easily across Bobbi's smooth legs. The update in her wardrobe had left her torso bare, the new leather vest barely covering it and the black wrap crop resting pretty underneath. The universe had noted Bobbi's loss of weight and reacted almost the exact same way that Roman had, but they all realised it was so she could wrestle against women more her size — and that made them _excited_.

Against Christian, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, The Shield weren't face, but they weren't heels either. They all landed somewhere in between.

After a little back and forth in the match, some flying bodies, an accidental Brogue Kick that caught Christian on the chin, Ambrose ultimately picked up the win.

But before anything could happen, the sound of the Wyatt Family arriving sent the arena into darkness. Bobbi launched off the barricade where she was sitting and latched onto Seth's leg, pulled him from the ring.

The lights swam back on and Dean stood in the centre of the squared circle, spinning for any sign of life, stopping when his eyes landed on the black pits of Sister Abigail's. She stood alone. Absolutely _no_ sign of the Wyatt Family.

For a moment, Bobbi's breath caught in her throat.

But when she surged forward, grabbed his jaw in just one single hand and pressed her lips against his, Bobbi felt like the wind had been slapped out of her. Dean stood there for a long moment, his eyes wide, the crowd losing it, and then he shoved her off and stumbled back into the ropes.

The female Shield member was in then, spinning Abigail around and slamming her palm against her cheek so hard that Abigail was sent crashing to the floor. Bobbi's chest was heaving as she glared across the ring at Ambrose and then her eyes were back on the woman lying on the floor. She was… Abigail… the woman was _laughing_.

Bobbi was glued to the spot, her head trying to sort through the fuzz of what exactly was happening, and when the Wyatt member regained her footing, all she could do was stare in horror.

But she wasn't done yet. Abigail rocked forwards a second time and pressed her lips against Bobbi's, and if the crowd hadn't voiced their opinion already, they _certainly_ did now.

Her hands came up to her sides, eyes wide as she tried to understand the dark gaze of Abigail, and when the woman dropped her hands from Bobbi's neck and pulled back, it was like she was pulled out of the metal lull she'd been in.

"I've always been curious to know exactly what it is death tastes like," Abigail said loud enough for the cameras to hear, and she smirked, tilted her head. "And it tastes like him."

The only way to describe what next happened was that Bobbi simply… _snapped_.

She launched at Sister Abigail, threw her fists into the woman's stomach, her arms, her back, her head, anywhere that she could physically inflict pain, and then she was slipping out of the ring, slamming together the chair near the announcers table. Bobbi climbed back between the ropes and nudged Abigail's already hurt body into a position more suited for her new choice of attack. The pale green of her eyes were lit in the kind of fire that the Universe hadn't seen for a very long time and she looked ready to draw blood.

The smack against Abigail's back sent a ghost of a shiver down Bobbi's spine, but she kept at it, followed the writhing woman around the ring with the chair until there were arms around her waist and the metal weapon was being pulled from her grip.

"Bobbi— Bobbi, calm down—" it was Roman, his arms securing her back against him.

She heaved in his arms, drew breath into her lungs so heavily that she would have been on her back if he wasn't supporting her.

And then Seth was in front of her, his eyes ducking into her line of sight, words spilling out of his mouth as he tried to reason with her. "You're going to break her in half if you keep going, Bobbi, and the last thing we need to deal with right now as The Shield are more consequences of what you just did if you don't stop, Bob, okay? Cool off, _cool off_ and calm down and _breathe_ before she gets inside your head any more."

His hands were on her head, angling it up so she couldn't look away from him.

But then Dean shoved him aside and for the second time that night, lips were pressing against hers. And, well, if that didn't light another kind of anger inside of her, she didn't know what would.

Dean was gone as quick as he was there and Roman let her go immediately. And the first thing Bobbi did was curl her hand into a fist and drive it right against Ambrose's nose. The man stumbled back into the apron and clutched at his face, and when he looked up, Bobbi could see the tell tale sign of a blood nose from the red dripping off his fingers.

Bobbi pursed her lips. Nodded. Felt a sense of calm pass through her. "Thank you," she said, smoothing down her top and readjusting her belt. "That worked."

When The Shield glanced back up into the ring, Sister Abigail was gone.

A microphone was pressed into Bobbi's hands and for the longest second she tried to recall what exactly it was she was supposed to be saying. And when she remembered, she climbed into the ring.

"I don't really know about you guys," she addressed the audience, "but I don't know what the hell just happened."

Bobbi took a deep breath to calm herself again and then shook her head in amazement. "I should've expected something like this, _Abby_ , I really should have. You never told me not to underestimate you. But I did. Ten outta ten times I will have _no_ problem putting you down between these four corners. But you're playin' a different game, aren't you? You don't care about the one, two, three, you don't care if it's a loss. You care about gettin' inside someone's head."

"Well, trust me," she rolled her shoulders back, chuckled humourlessly. "It worked. For a moment there, you had me, Abby, you really did and I'll hand it to ya, I didn't expect you to play dirty. But you wanna play? You wanna see where this road leads you, Abigail?"

Bobbi paced the length of the ring, sweeping right past the three boys standing with her. "At Elimination Chamber, it's The Shield versus the Wyatt Family, brotherhood against brotherhood, men against men. So why don't we add one more fight?" The corner of her mouth lifted as the audience started to scream 'yes!'. "You and me. One on one. Let's see how far these little games of yours will get you before I kick your damn teeth _down your damn throat!_ "

The crowd were raucous, yelling in agreement with the black-clad woman. She shook her silver and black hair over her shoulder and stopped pacing, threw her head back to stare at the lights, to try and calm herself. When she looked down, her pale green eyes found the camera.

"And next time? Keep your filthy lips _off_ my boys."

* * *

 **yes? no?**

 **welcome to the new readers and heeeeey to the one who have been here for a while. also, thanks to _Raquel the writer_** (I think she's awesome too, but I'm a bit biased), **_T_** (really hot! and yes, im enjoying writing this a lot, can't wait to work out what they're going to do in the match :) and thankyou! also, the tease for the smackdown scene was totally worth it, right?) **and _R1verdance_ ** (thankyou! that means a lot to me! i try to do it the most natural way that i can :) )


	19. Chapter 19

Somehow, Dean had managed to coax her back to his apartment for the 'weekend' they had. Which, pretty much, had consisted of catching up on some sleep and working out.

On Wednesday night, Bobbi found herself pouring water into the large bathtub he had. The plan was for a nice bubble bath. Something to soothe her muscles, her mind. A headache hadn't left her alone since she'd gotten out of the plane and this was more of an attempt to get rid of that than anything else.

"Barbara!"

She rolled her eyes at the sound of Dean's voice and bent over, threw her hair up in a messy top knot. "What?"

"What are you doing?"

"About to have a bath."

When he didn't answer her, Bobbi tugged her top off and dropped her shorts and underwear to the floor, looked at herself in the large mirror on the wall. Her tattooed arm hid most of the bruising on that arm but her hip was a nice yellow. She could have landed a bit better on Monday night, that was for sure.

Sliding into the steaming water and resting her head back against the porcelain, Bobbi sighed in content.

Until the door to the bathroom flung open and Dean waltzed in, wearing nothing but some briefs and carrying his clothes under an arm. He smiled brightly at her as she looked at him in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"Joinin' you, kitten!"

Bobbi groaned. "Dean, no—"

But his briefs were off and he'd stepped into the other side of the tub, sinking down into the water with a dreamy look on his face. "This is _great_."

"You're so fuckin' lucky this is a big tub," she muttered, "or my foot would be up your ass kicking you out."

"Don't doubt it for a second, Arlett."

The room settled back into silence and Bobbi leant her head back against the tub again, closing her eyes and focusing on the sound of his breathing. The quiet lasted a while, but not long enough for her headache to disappear.

His foot nudged hers. "You had another nightmare last night."

"Yep."

It was true. The images that had flashed through her mind had woken her up panting and in a sweat, Ambrose hovering over her, unsure of what to do until she curled into his side. It was one that she'd had before, one that she was accustomed to, but it never ended any differently and always managed to push her from her sleep.

Dean hummed at her and pursed his lips, blue eyes warm. "I went to a shrink when I was first signed to FCW—"

"Didn't everyone have to go to him?"

"Dunno," he shrugged, "never paid attention to anyone else down there apart from Regal, Rollins and Reigns."

"Triple R, sounds like bad voodoo…" Bobbi chuckled, her eyes glinting as she watched the man across from her.

"You're one to talk! Fuckin' Bobbi and Fili, sound like a bad comedy duo."

Bobbi sucked in an indignant breath, shoved her foot against his hip. "Rude. I'm fuckin' hilarious, Ambrose."

But he snorted in contention, just picked up right where he left off. "So he told me whenever I got mad or upset, or I couldn't sleep because my head was just spinnin' too fast… just get a journal. Write it down. If you don't wanna do that, then talk to someone about it."

She'd heard the same bit of advice too, just from another person. Crinkles flared around the corners of her eyes as she smiled up at the ceiling. "Ce grande malheur, de ne pouvoir être seul."

Dean's blue eyes looked at her like she'd grown a second head.

"The misery of not being able to be alone," she loosely translated. "Ma mére used to throw French phrases at me when I was still a child, grew up trying to understand it, never could. That one stuck, along with a few others, but… not being able to be alone, always having to have some form of support in your life to cope, it's miserable. Gotta be strong, you know, and how can you do that when someone knows your every weakness?"

He pondered over it for a while, ran a hand up the smooth expanse of her calf. "But if someone knows what makes you weak, shouldn't that make you stronger so you can protect yourself?"

Bobbi looked at him, tilted her head, eyes suddenly more serious than before. "Tell me. If Nathan walked into this room right now, how do you think I'd react?"

There was no answer.

"You know, I still get shivers up and down my spine when I think of him, or when I say his name, I feel nauseous and my stomach rolls, but if he walked up to me, I'd probably faint. That's not strength," she sighed, hand falling back into the water and pressing around her gurgling stomach.

"Let other people be strong for you, then." Dean paused. His eyes were soft, small smile gracing his lips. "Let me be strong for you. Let Filipa and Seth and Roman and Bray be strong for you. Kitten, let us be the ones to hold you up when you're not feelin' it. There's no shame in takin' a psychological break."

Bobbi shook her head. "I don't like being weak, Dean, even if someone else is being strong for me."

Even though he was making sense, he wasn't getting anywhere. "Is this dude still alive?"

She breathed out heavily, frown creasing her face as her eyes shut, trying to stop the flow of the memories, the fire, the last time she'd seen him, the psychological torture he'd put her through that night. "I— I don't know," Bobbi answered finally. "And I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I've tried to stop the nightmares. And nothing works. Maybe I need closure, yeah, but there is _no way_ in hell I want to go back down that road. I don't have the strength for it."

"Bobbi—"

"Drop it, Dean."

" _Barbara._ "

Looking up at him, Bobbi was taken aback by the sincerity showing in his eyes. "I didn't mean to overstep the line."

"I know."

 **—**

Somewhere between getting drying and getting dressed, she ended up naked again and tangled in Dean's sheets.

"I've never seen where you live," he breathed against her skin.

Bobbi snorted. "That would entail you meeting my mother."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No offence, but you're not the kinda guy I'm gonna bring home to my mom in a hurry."

Dean picked up the teasing tone in her voice and threw a hand over his chest. "Oh, how you wound me, Arlett."

She giggled and let her head drop back onto the pillow. "I hardly ever go home now, Dean. Mom's looking after the cat and enjoys her personal time, I drop by maybe once every two weeks for a day and then I'm gone. There's nothing exciting for you to see."

"There's an apartment a couple of floors down that's for sale," Dean murmured slowly. "It's a good price…"

"Dean Ambrose," Bobbi started, lifting herself up onto her elbows, "are you asking me to move into your apartment block?"

"Well— I mean, it would make sense, wouldn't it? You spend more time in Vegas—"

"For _sex_."

"—than you do in Chicago."

"Winthrop is _not_ Chicago."

"Same thing."

"Dean—"

"I mean, it's small, affordable, _yours_ , and you don't have to worry about a parent if you bring someone home. Plus, I heard you on the phone the other day with Vanessa. Wouldn't you like to have her for a couple of days? How do you think your brother would react if your mom — bless her soul — accidentally let slip that he had a daughter?"

And, well, he had a point.

When Bobbi remained silent, pondering over the new information, Dean pushed up onto his forearms and smiled at her. "The least I can do is show it to you."

Ten minutes later and dressed in some navy track pants and a loose cropped shirt, Dean and Bobbi stood outside the seventeenth level apartment. It was the furthest from the elevator which meant that she probably wouldn't be able to hear the ding of the machine when it reached her level.

"There are only two full-time residents on this level," Dean told her lowly, glancing at the first and second door. "One's a topless waiter, the other is a cleaner. Generally keep to themselves but are nice people."

How did he know this? "Did you scout it out before asking me?"

Dean laughed and shook his head. "Nah, my friend used to live in the one that's up for sale. It's how I got the penthouse. And now he's married and they 'ave a kid on the way, so they brought a new house."

They pushed into the apartment and Bobbi looked around half-heartedly. To her left was the main bedroom and connecting bathroom. The kitchen was next, main living room after. It wasn't _that_ big, but the area was still spacious. The walls were completely bare, kitchen empty. In her mind, Bobbi could picture where she would put her stuff. A door to the left of her showed off a closed in room. Maybe this was the second bedroom?

Walking into the ensuite with Dean hot on her heels, she stared almost in shock at the amount of mirrors that adorned the walls. "Did he like to stare at himself?"

Dean sheepishly raised a shoulder.

Bobbi curled her toes against the cold tiles and turned to look at the man behind her. "How much?"

"Uh…" he scratched his head and couldn't meet her eyes. "He's selling it for 570,000."

 **—**

 **RAW Live**

 **February 17th**

 **Denver, Colorado**

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my guests joining me now, The Shield."

Bless her little cotton socks, Renee looked almost uncomfortable when she realised she was surrounded on all sides by one of the most dominant factions in the history off WWE.

"Roman," she started quickly, "tonight you're going one on one with the world's strongest man, Mark Henry — I mean, this is a man—"

"Mark Henry," Dean interrupted, smirk gracing his face as he stared across at Roman. "I'm surprised Mark Henry even showed up tonight after the beating I gave him last week."

Bobbi dragged a hand down her face, but it was Roman who responded. "Dean, what are you talkin' about man? You _lost_."

"Look, Mark Henry is no walk in the park, alright? But I softened him up a little bit for you; you'll find that out tonight. I guess you think you can do better?" He threw his arms out, staring with a challenge in his eyes.

Roman nodded. "I _know_ I can."

Ambrose's arms flew up into the air and he groaned loudly.

"Okay, but don't you think that the three of you need to get on the same page before your _huge_ six man tag match against the Wyatt Family?"

"Renee, Renee," Seth calmly said. "I appreciate what you're tryin' to do here, I really do. But you gotta understand, we are _always_ on the same page. And as for the Wyatts at the Elimination Chamber? The Shield was _born_ and _bread_ for war. That'll never change, sweetheart."

"Bray Wyatt? And his family?" Dean laughed, wriggled his fingers in front of Renee's face. "They're an _illusion_. Their mind games don't work on us because The Shield is _real_."

"We don't experience fear. And we don't back down." Roman said, but before he could go any further, Renee had turned to Bobbi.

She hesitantly grinned. "Well, actually, what we saw on Friday night was almost like you snapped, Bobbi, like something Sister Abigail did scared _you_."

"The only thing that was scary about Friday night was the smell of her mouth," Bobbi laughed. "It was horrid."

"You issued a challenge to Sister Abigail _because_ of that though," Renee continued. "Are you going to be ready if she accepts it?"

"I was born ready." Bobbi shook her head, glanced at Reigns. "Like Roman said, we don't back down. The Shield will _decimate_ the Wyatt Family."

Renee quirked her lips up as she looked between Bobbi the swaying Dean Ambrose. "There's a question that's being asked by _everyone_ in the WWE Universe at the moment, and that's about _you_ two." Bobbi raised an eyebrow. "We've seen how volatile you two are with each other when you're angry, but what we didn't expect to see on Friday night was for you, Dean, to _kiss_ Bobbi."

His laughter echoed around the small space, his head thrown back as he murmured "friggin' titty master", but the look on Bobbi's face was close to murderous as she glared at him. "The only reason Dean did that was to bring me back to reality."

"So there's definitely nothing going on between you two?"

"Renee, I won't assume to know a lot about your life, but know something about mine," Bobbi deadpanned. "It doesn't matter what Dean did. My work in this business won't be reduced to who kissed who or who likes who. There's no time for love in this company, it's petty and useless. Something that's _not_ petty and useless? Kicking the Wyatt Family's ass. We're going to break them like they've never been broken before and you can _believe_ that. And believe in The Shield."

Roman Reigns didn't really look too phased when he stood in the ring across from Mark Henry almost ten minutes later. Bobbi was between Seth who was shouting advice and Dean who looked confused yet proud when Roman managed to pick Henry up into a Samoan Drop.

And when Roman speared him, Ambrose did _not_ look happy. While Seth was imitating the impact the Samoan's fist had made on the world's strongest man, Dean pursed his lips and spun, planted a boot into Mark Henry's back.

"Dean—"

Bobbi cut herself off when Henry rolled out of the ring and her teammate went after him. Gently grabbing Roman's arm, she motioned at Dean when he looked at her expectantly.

Reigns walked to the ropes, looked down at Dean. "What are you doin', man?"

The man spat something incomprehensible back at Roman, but as soon as he had, the arena was thrown into darkness. _The Wyatt Family_.

She felt Dean clamber back into the ring as she stared at the tron, listening to the song fall from Bray Wyatt's mouth with a frown on her face. On one side of him was Harper, on the other the sheep mask that Rowan wore. But where was Sister Abigail?

"Now, as our day of reckoning inches closer, I can't help but feel this _childlike excitement_ building up in me!" His eyes were wide, smile big. But then his demeanour changed. "The clock is ticking. Your _defeat_ ; it will not come in vain. Your shattered bones will pave the streets of my kingdom and from my throne, I'm gonna turn them all. And I can't help but wonder, Shield, I must ask you… in the end… was all of _this_ worth it?"

Bray laughed, broke away from the camera to let Luke Harper in. "Are you willing to die for this?"

"Because if you're not," Bray murmured then, his voice deep as he glanced over his shoulder. "You've already lost."

The Wyatt family spokesperson laughed but before he could say anything else, it was Roman's voice that echoed around the stadium. "I got an idea. How 'bout you come out _here_ and talk that noise?"

The man in focus spun, smirk on his face. "Funny you should say that… we were thinkin' the _exact_ same thing…"

"Run."

But they didn't. The four Shield members waited in the ring as the Wyatt's theme came on, bass moving through Bobbi's bones as she watched Filipa walk down alongside Bray. And in her hands was a microphone. Because when the lights swam back on and all noise stopped, she started humming into it. And then she started singing.

"Ooh death, oooh death," she laughed, threw her head back and let the hood fall away. "Well, what is this I can see, with ice cold eyes starin' straight at me…"

Those weren't the lyrics for the song, though, and a shiver ran down Bobbi's spine.

"Well I am _death_ ," the Sister continued, "And Barbara, you're so beautiful… not just _beautiful_ , though— your eyes are the stars, they're like the trees in the forest, thriving off the world and alive and breathing, but they betray you when you watch me the way you do," she laughed and stared at the ceiling for a moment, "they betray you when they show just how _scared_ you are of me. And just like the world we're surrounded by, they're also tainted with impurity and imperfection. I tasted death on your lips and I tasted death on Dean Ambrose's lips. Come Sunday night… that will be your fate."

The Wyatt Family now stood on the apron, but Bobbi could only focus on the woman across from her. It was captivating. Chilling.

—

SmackDown consisted of nothing. They weren't even scheduled to show up. So she and the other three Shield members parted ways for the night and went back to their respective rooms to watch the show unfold on their televisions.

Now it was Wednesday. And again, Bobbi found herself in Las Vegas.

"You gonna buy it?"

She hummed, looked around the space again. She had to admit, Dean drove a good bargain. Live in Las Vegas, constant sex, spending time with one of her closest friends, have a _fantastic_ apartment to herself. Let her mother live in peace once again now that she was okay with being by herself.

"Is it pet friendly?"

Dean shook his head, bit his lip to try and contain his smirk. "Gonna have to leave the cat with your mom, toots. Unless you wanna donate it to Natalya or something."

Bobbi snorted and shot him a look, then looked back outside. It was dark and the lights of the city blinked back at her seductively and she _really_ wanted this apartment. Financially speaking, she had the money to buy it and support herself at the same time. And it wasn't like she did a lot of shopping anyway, most of her spending money went to food.

His hand snaked around her stomach, face coming to rest just next to hers, lips pressed to the shell of her ear. "Please?"

"Are you gonna beg me?" Bobbi smirked, spinning in his arms and grinning up at him. "Because if you beg, it _may_ help make my choice."

"I don't beg, sweetheart," Dean cockily, dimples flaring across his cheeks, eyes dark.

Bobbi shrugged her shoulders and pulled away from him, looking around with feigned disinterest. "Maybe I won't then. What a shame, I did like it…"

He was in her space immediately, backing her up against the kitchen bench quickly, a hand curling around the side of her neck, angling her chin up with his thumb, and the other trapping her hand against the cold stone. He was in one of _those_ moods tonight. Bobbi smirked up at him.

"You want me to beg?" Dean whispered as he bent forwards. "You want me to beg, sweetheart?"

When his hand left hers to harshly cup her mound, the groan that fell from Bobbi's mouth had him grinning triumphantly.

Dropping to his knees without hesitation, Dean curled his fingers around the waist band of her slacks. "If I get down on my knees for you?" Bobbi moaned loudly as he pressed his nose to her crotch. "If I do this?" His teeth ran over the material and a visible shudder moved down her spine.

Bobbi gasped as he yanked her sweatpants and underwear away from her body. "Jesus, Dean, this isn't mine yet! Someone could walk in, for—" she broke off with another loud noise as the man kneeling before her ran his tongue up her folds. His rough hands moved her thighs wider apart and then Dean pushed his stubbled face further between her legs.

"I'll beg you," Dean hummed against her, "I'll beg you until you're screaming for me."

And oh, _fuck_. His tongue sunk inside of her body and she squeaked out something akin to a gasp. Her hands flew back onto the kitchen bench with a loud slap to steady herself and her head fell back, mouth dropping open as Dean went to town.

He pulled away, bit at her thigh harshly, and then trailed his lips up her body as his hands slipped her tee off. Her flimsy bra was next and then Dean sucked a nipple between his teeth, his hands gripping her waist tightly.

Eventually his lips were on hers. One of Dean's hands moved down to cup her again, fingers not moving, and she groaned in anticipation.

When Dean pulled away slightly, he was grinning like the cheshire cat. "Yes?"

" _Fuck_ , yes."

He leant forward and traced his lips along the pulse point in her neck. Teeth sunk into her flesh slowly, drawing a long moan from her throat. One of Bobbi's hands dropped from his chest to curl her fingers alongside his, trying to push them inside of her, but his free hand latched around her wrist and kept her movements still.

"What are you saying yes to, love?"

"Both, fucking both," she moaned, threw her head back and let her eyes slide shut as he teased her a little more. "I'll buy the goddamned apartment, just fuck me."

Dean grinned against her skin.

By the time he was done with her, Bobbi had sweat pooling on her skin and on the cold floor tiles. Her pants and Dean's shirt were curled up under his head as they gazed up at the apartment roof. Bobbi was curled into his side, gently running her fingers through the dark blonde hair on his chest.

"So, you really mean it?"

"Hmm?" Bobbi looked up at Dean through half-shut eyes. "Mean what?"

"That you'll get it?"

Her lips curved up. "Your methods of persuasion are very… good."

"Good?" Dean laughed, shook his head. "Only good?"

"I don't think you've made me scream yet, Ambrose."

He whistled and pulled Bobbi on top of him. "You challengin' me, sweetheart?"

Bobbi found the strength to reach over him and yank her bra off the floor, pulling it on over her breasts. "You know it, but not here."

"Barbara," Dean drawled as he pouted, yelling out in a mix of shock and pain as she tugged her pants from under his head. "Fuckin' rude."

Bobbi smiled sweetly at him as she stood and pulled the track pants over her thighs. Dean sat up and tugged his briefs back on and when he stood up, his hands were wrapped in the top she wanted to wear. "Give it back," Bobbi moaned as she lunged for it.

Ducking out of the way with a chuckle, Dean pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Smile!" He called, and Bobbi covered her face with her hands just in time to avoid the flash of the camera.

"Fuck you," she murmured, leaping forward and finally grasping her top.

The phone was gone in less then a second and Dean smirked triumphantly as he grabbed her wrist, pulling Bobbi in against him. She let go of the shirt in an effort to push him away but his other hand caught it. Bobbi grunted as she tried to shake him off, but the dimples that creased his cheeks as he looked down at her made her groan. "Asshole," Bobbi breathed. The cheeky and arrogant smirk only deepened.

And now he was standing over her successfully, dominantly, her arms spread out from her body as he tightened his grip. When she looked up, the kiss that met her was strong and heavy. His tongue pushed into her mouth effortlessly, drank her moan like it was a drug, and his smug grin was insatiable.

Somehow he managed to lock her wrists behind her back and with his free hand, tugged the pants from her body.

"You're so fuckin' hot," Dean murmured against her lips. "Drive me crazy all the time, y'know that?" He backed her against the kitchen bench top, let go of her wrists to lift her up onto it. "You trust me?"

Bobbi nodded.

"Wrap your hands around my neck," he commanded, smiling when Bobbi did just that. "I've wanted to do this to you for a long time."

Without any real warning, Dean spread her thighs and hooked his elbows under the curve of her knees. He lifted her easily, moved his hands to cup her ass once her legs had crossed behind his back, and then pushed himself into her with a low grunt.

The pace he set was incredible, driving his hips up into hers so harshly that every time he did, Bobbi would let go of a gasp. As she leant back, her nails dug into the skin at Dean's shoulders; he growled loudly and Bobbi's toes curled at the noise. And when she managed to slide her eyes open, Bobbi stared at the man who was staring right back at her. Her mouth dropped open, frown creasing her head when he tightened his hold on her ass, the blunt nails biting into her skin.

Bobbi's hand slipped off his shoulder and slapped against the kitchen bench loudly as she braced herself. With this new leverage, Dean managed to deepen his thrusts. Her fingers gripped the stone so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"Lay back on the table," he panted.

She listened to him. Slowly, Bobbi eased her back onto the cold stone of the kitchen bench. Dean gently laid her ass down and then moved to grip her hips, pressing her back into him to meet each thrust.

There was sweat dripping off her skin now as she struggled to keep up with his pace. Bobbi's back arched off the bench as her toes curled and her entire body shook as she tried to keep her orgasm at bay. But when Dean curled himself around her and sunk his teeth into her breast, the scream that tore through her chest matched the white hot orgasm that ripped through her being. Her walls tightened around him and her legs spasmed, hand flying up to cover her mouth too late as the other tangled in her silver hair, and Bobbi could feel the veins along her neck bulge as she tried to pull air into her lungs, and then the hand covering her mouth moved to gently rest on her neck.

When the air finally returned to her lungs, Bobbi breathed it out as steady as she could and opened her eyes. Dean was watching her almost in awe, his entire movements stopped as he catalogued the way her body reacted to him.

Dean was quick to follow her when he resumed his pace and he shook with effort when she reached around his arm to cup his balls. His jaw locked, drenched hair falling across his face, eyes clenched shut, and along his throat the tendons popped as his head fell back. His built chest was bare, covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Dean looked godly like this and it sent a shiver down Bobbi's spine in appreciation.

Somehow they got their clothes back on without anymore mishaps and retreated to Dean's bed almost twenty levels higher. The stamina Dean Ambrose had when it came to sex _really_ amazed her.

When she got out of his bed the next day and gazed at herself in the mirror, Bobbi really wasn't that surprised to see the teeth bruisings around her left nipple.

* * *

 **wheeeew, did you guys not like the last chapter? i thought filipa's double-timing was brilliant, but each to their own i guess**

 **to _Raquel the writer_ ; **i go back and forth between using sister abigail and filipa - should i just stick to filipa?

 **tell me what you think? x**


	20. Chapter 20

**Elimination Chamber**

 **February 23rd**

"Think of me as Sister Abigail out there," Filipa said as she sparred gently with Bobbi. "The woman who kissed your boyfriend and played phenomenal mind games with you."

"My boyfriend," the silver haired woman laughed. "Dean is so not my boyfriend."

"May as well be."

"Filipa! He is _not_ my boyfriend!"

"I mean, you _did_ buy that apartment in his building—"

"Filipa."

"And you spend how much time with him? But seriously, how much was that apartment—"

"More than _you're_ worth."

Filipa snorted and ducked a slow clothesline, retaliated with a gentle high kick. "Rude."

"Should come visit, it's nice."

"Yeah, maybe," Filipa stopped and looked at the ropes quizzically. "How do you feel about a long fall?"

Bobbi glanced at the woman, lifted a shoulder. "Land flat on my back and I'll be fine. Why?"

With her friend in a gentle headlock, Filipa walked them towards the ropes, climbed between them so that she was on one side and Bobbi the other. The next thing she new, there was a hand on Bobbi's thigh and she was being vaulted over the rope, flying quickly through the air and when her back hit the padded floor, all the breath in her body was gone. She gazed up at the roof like a gaping fish and her vision swam. But when her diaphragm finally contracted, Bobbi took a gasping breath into her lungs.

"Fuck, Pip, warn me next time won't you?!" she managed to push out as she rolled over.

Filipa was gazing up at the roof and giggling like a mad woman, her hands coming up to cover her face. "That was awesome."

"You suck."

"Filipa."

The voice was deep and didn't belong to any of their friends; in fact, the voice belonged to none other than Triple H. The woman in question pushed up onto her feet right away. "Hunter!"

He smiled at her sudden formality. "You're not trying to kill my favourite Shield member are you?"

"No…" Filipa sent a smirk at her friend. "Not yet, at least."

"That's what I like to hear."

Bobbi slung an arm around the woman next to her and plastered a wide smile on her face. "What can we do for you, Trips?"

"Just here to let you know that the match tonight is in your hands. You can do whatever you want in the space of your ten minutes, but it needs to end in a no contest."

The two women looked at each other and smirked. They would take this and run with it.

—

The three Shield men escorted Bobbi up to the second floor. The leather vest was done all the way up, her sharp abdominal muscles moving as she walked. Fingerless gloves with the back cut out of them were on her hands, the dog tags tucked under the top. When they settled in the little nook they would all walk out of, Bobbi fell against the wall and inched onto her tip toes, pressing away into a standing push-up.

"Go kill 'er, Bobbi!" A male fan urged. Another told Dean that he should kiss her again.

Roman was tipped over shaking water into his hair and Seth was mimicking the motion, and when her eyes met Dean's, she lifted an eyebrow. He motioned at her with his hands and then held them out, let Bobbi slam a couple of her fists against him.

Her silver and black hair tipped over her shoulder and she stopped, rolling her fists. Bobbi shook the straight hair out of the way and breathed steadily through her nose.

The stage director standing with them looked up at her and then their music came on and it was show time.

Pushing to stand at the top of the stairs, Bobbi raised her chin as she looked down towards the ring. Her eyes showed no fear. As she walked down, The Shield men stayed at the top of the ramp.

Vaulting over the barricades was so much easier when she didn't have to worry about kicking someone, and soon enough she was standing in the centre of the ring. Bobbi's eyes slid shut and she interlocked her fingers, rolled her fists. Took a deep breath. And when she opened her eyes, the woman looked ready for war.

The arena washed into blackness. The bass of the Wyatt's theme rang through her bones and automatically a shiver cascaded down her spine. But Filipa wasn't alone when she walked out. Bray held the lamp out as the four members walked down the ramp and as he sat down on the chair, blew the light out, the arena again fell into a darkness that flooded every crevice. The crowd started to mumble but then Bobbi felt the ring shake and lights came back on. In front of her stood Sister Abigail. Behind her, Bray sat in the rocking chair. The woman in front of Bobbi looked smug as a flicker of uncertainty flashed through her eyes.

Then, she turned. Mouthed something at the men. And all three of them without question vacated the vicinity.

"Barbara, there is no reason for you to fear _me_ ," she laughed, "just fear what I'm about to do to you."

Bobbi didn't back down, the expression on her face now unchanging. Lilian introduced her as a representative of The Shield, then introduced Filipa as Sister Abigail of the Wyatt Family.

The bell rang.

This was it. Time to show the world what they were made of.

Filipa and Bobbi circled each other, locked up. For a moment, they battled for control, spinning along the ropes until the referee pulled them apart.

She pushed off of Bobbi and held her hands up, a smirk playing on her lips as she made a kissing motion. Bobbi growled and pushed off the ropes, slammed her open hand against Filipa's face so hard that her back found the mat.

As soon as Filipa was standing, Bobbi hit her again. And again. But when Filipa got up the third time, she ducked the flying arm and shoved Bobbi back against the turnbuckles, trying to knock some wind out of her. But it did the exact opposite. Bobbi exploded out of the corner and hit Filipa with a clothesline so heavy the woman flipped onto her back.

Bobbi was quick to roll into a cover but Filipa was quick to kick out and then roll out of the ring.

She didn't give her opponent one second of breathing space; rebounding off the far ropes, Bobbi launched herself into the air and flipped over the top rope, landing almost painlessly on her ass as Filipa had the wind forced from her lungs.

Throwing a leg over Filipa's waist, Bobbi slammed her fist into the woman's head over and over again. But the smaller woman's strength was very surprising. In one swift movement, Filipa had planted a foot in the centre of Bobbi's stomach and kicked her back into the apron.

And _fuck_ , did that hurt.

Bobbi collapsed onto her knees, face scrunched up in pain, arm holding the small of her back. Hands curled into her hair and then she was being dragged across the floor.

Before she could even prepare herself, Filipa lifted her head up and slammed it down into the steel steps. And then another. With the third, Bobbi had bit the inside of her cheek so hard she knew the metallic taste spilling into her mouth was blood. The hands disappeared from her hair and she fell back onto the padded floor, glancing up into the ceiling with a dazed expression across her face.

A hand moved under her back and somehow she was slid into the ring.

"Are you ready?!" Filipa laughed manically. "Are you ready to meet death, Barbara?!"

She was lifted, an arm locked around the back of her head, and then she was bent backwards over Filipa's hip. Lips were pressed gently against her forehead. She could hear Filipa laughing, but her vision was still blurred. And then she was spinning through the air, her head rebounding off the mat as Filipa hit her namesake move.

Without really having the ability to kick out of the pin she was now in, Bobbi simply lifted a foot and placed it on the rope that was next to her.

When the referee refused to count the pin, Filipa started to shout at him. It wasn't until the ref pointed out Bobbi's leg that Filipa understood why he'd stopped.

She pulled Bobbi back up, wrapped her hands around her throat and moved behind her, pulling the woman down into a double-knee back-breaker. For the second time in the space of five minutes, Bobbi felt the breath leave her lungs. She crumpled on the apron with a scream of pain and when she could breathe, Bobbi managed to roll herself out onto the mat. If she could gain just a little space, she could capitalise on it.

"We'll teach you how to live, Barbara!" Filipa laughed again, "All you have to do is _follow the buzzards!_ "

Bobbi fell back against the barricades and found her footing, managed to glare at the woman who was looking down at her.

She slipped out of the ring and grabbed Bobbi's hand and forearm and pulled her away from the barricade, intending to swing her back into it, but Bobbi used the momentum to swing her way past the padded wall and fling Filipa against the steel post of the ring.

Finally Filipa collapsed, held her face between her hands, and Bobbi didn't let her breathe. She picked the woman back up and swung her with such force into the barricade Filipa was off her feet. The wall of black moved back against the crowd and Bobbi glanced around, a little dazed, and in the distance she could her the faint rumblings of a 'this is awesome' chant. At least, then, her pain was being met appropriately. When she glanced at to the right of her, she caught sight of her face on the tron; her lip was bloodied from the bit cheek and the left side of her forehead was bruising nicely around a lump.

Under her, Filipa stirred. Bobbi ducked down and lifted her again, spun her back into the barricade as hard as she could. The rush of air coming out of the woman's lungs was audible.

"You wanna play games, _Abigail?_ " Bobbi yelled, slapping her hands off of Filipa's head. " _You've already_ _lost!_ "

Bobbi threw the woman into the ring, was quick to follow and then spin her against the ropes. When Filipa came flying back at her, the dropkick that landed on her chin was so loud Bobbi paused for a second. She shouldn't have.

Though she was gripping her jaw, Filipa ran at the corner turnbuckles and planted her foot on the middle, then the top, and flew through the air as she flipped to hit a cross body against Bobbi.

Bobbi groaned, gripped the back of her head where she'd landed. Filipa pulled her into a quick cover.

As soon as she got up and flung herself off the ropes, Filipa picked her up and swung her around in a tilt-a-whirl back-breaker, and Bobbi's back arched off the mat when she landed as her face twisted in pain.

Bobbi was dragged over to the ropes, thrown outside of them but kept on the apron. Filipa tangled her hand in Bobbi's pants, lifted her up in a vertical suplex that threw her back into the ring, but when she went for the cover, Bobbi wouldn't stay down. She barely got a shoulder up before Filipa was dragging her back to the ropes and throwing her into another suplex.

When she was led back across to the ropes after another unsuccessful cover, Bobbi slipped between the top and middle ropes, locked her arm across the back of Filipa's head. The woman was intending to hit a third and final suplex, but when Filipa went to lift her into the air, Bobbi hooked an ankle under the bottom rope. With her back to the titantron, she glanced across the ring and listened to the growing noise of the audience. They _knew_ what was happening.

Bobbi grabbed Filipa's arm and slung it over her neck, curled her fingers under the material of Filipa's shorts. And using all the strength she had, Bobbi lifted the woman up into the air. She seemed to hang for a long time, upright in the air, but momentum carried them both back and off the apron. It would have been a lot easier on her already sore back had she spun and landed on her knees, but when she landed flat on her back, she couldn't breathe. Black spots swam in her vision and she heard Filipa suck in a breath behind her.

 _One_.

She couldn't move her arms at first. Her back tingled, her head spun.

 _Two. Three._

Behind her, Filipa coughed and rolled over onto her side. Bobbi gazed up at the lights shining down on her and blinked rapidly.

 _Four._

Finally she managed to roll over, push onto her arms. Being on the other end of the vertical suplex off the apron didn't really change the way it completely shattered her. Doing it the first time hadn't prepared her in anyway for doing it the second time.

 _Five_.

Above her came the noise of the crowd, hoping that the sound of their voices would push her back into the ring.

 _Six_.

For good measure, Bobbi slung a leg over Filipa's prone body, slammed her fist against the woman's head a couple of times. She rolled over, tried to find her footing and stumbled back into the metal barricade. Hands slapped her tattooed arm and voices yelled in her ear, but she wasn't really paying attention. Her face contorted in pain and she gripped her head, softly poking at the lump that was there.

 _Seven. Eight._

Bobbi pushed forwards, gripping the metal as she tried to keep her legs strong under her body.

 _Nine._

When she flung herself toward the squared circle, Bobbi all but collapsed, barely managed to wrap her hand around the bottom rope.

 _Ten._

It was over. Across the way, Bobbi heard the bell ring. A double count out. A draw.

She sunk to her knees and clutched her head between her hands. And then the lights in the arena disappeared. Somehow Bobbi clawed her way into the ring with her fingers curled around a steel chair. But when the arena was flooded with light, Filipa was nowhere to be found; she'd just… _disappeared._

Bobbi spun in the ring, eyes wide with fear, but her face screamed exhaustion and when her theme song came on, she visibly slumped against the turnbuckles at her back.

Her boys didn't take their time getting down to where she was. In fact, as soon as they got over the barricade, they surrounded her almost in a circle of protection. Seth was the first to spin, hand reaching out slowly to tilt her head up so he could take a good look at the bruised skin and her bloodied mouth. His frown was real. He slapped Reigns' back and they almost simultaneously spun at the same time.

"Let's get you out of here," Roman said softly, smile pulling at his lips as he wrapped a secure arm around her waist.

—

There was an icepack pressed to her head as soon as she pushed through the curtains and then she was being taken to the Doc's room for a general check up.

Bobbi didn't have a concussion but was slipped a few pain killers, the doctor in charge wrapping her torso with glad-wrap as he secured some ice on her back. He cleaned up the blood around her lip and smiled widely and then sent her on her way.

It was the first time in a very long time that there had been a second women's match on a PPV card, and from the smile Stephanie and Hunter shot her as they watched from the large screen, it would probably happen again.

"Are you gonna come up and see us off?" Dean asked as he helped her hobble towards the elevator.

She shook her head. "You guys got this."

He wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her gently against him, dropping a kiss onto her head. "See you later then, kitten."

Before she even got halfway back to the locker room, she heard Filipa's voice yelling her name.

"Bobbi!" There was a hand on her shoulder and then she was being pulled into a bone crushing hug. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard, I'm _so_ sorry!"

"My fault," Bobbi smirked, raising her shoulders and she pushed away. "I'm gonna go throw a hoodie on and then wait for my cue. Are you going back out?"

Filipa shook her head. "Just you, Bob."

Almost thirty minutes later saw Bobbi standing to the side of the stage entrance. Dean's black Shield hoodie was pulled around her shoulders and the arms were rolled up to her elbows, and when the Wyatt's theme came on, she found herself moving as quickly as she could to where Seth lay motionless on the broken announcers table.

It seemed that tonight all of them would be in pain.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **February 24th**

 **Green Bay, Wisconsin**

Bobbi stood next to Roman, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the bickering Seth and Dean.

"So walk me through this _one_ more time—"

Dean growled, looked up. "I've been repeating myself—"

"Where were you last night?!"

" _I've been repeating myself for twenty four hours!"_ Dean paused, took a deep breath. "I'm getting a little _sick,_ quite frankly of you two _ganging_ up on me—"

Bobbi sighed. "They're not gangin' up on you, Dean."

But Dean's voice just became louder. "And I'm getting a little _sick_ of explainin' myself," he motioned between Roman and Seth with his hands, "so, if uh, if that's not _good enough_ for you two and if you don't _trust_ me, then whatever, _whatever_."

"That's not it, that's _not_ it!"

"I'm outta here."

Dean walked away from them and Bobbi let go of an almighty sigh, threw her head back to stare at the ceiling. She tapped Roman's chest with the back of her hand and looked at him with a small smile. "I got this."

So Bobbi followed after Dean and left Seth and Roman behind her talking quietly.

—

Again, Bobbi had Dean's Shield hoodie wrapped around her body.

"You like that, don't you?"

Bobbi shrugged, sent Dean a little grin as she looked away from the Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns match on monitor. "It's okay."

"Should I get you one?" Dean laughed as he fiddled with the laces on her shoes. "Or are you just gonna wear mine all the time?"

"It smells like you," she murmured slowly, "you can go get another one. This is mine now."

A head popped around the corner and Bobbi stared up at one of the production assistants. "You guys are on in ten."

Bobbi's back still ached from the night before, so when she swung her legs off of Dean's lap, got up and groaned, stretched her muscles, Dean sent a mocking pout at her. She glared back at him.

Soon enough, the two were standing before the curtains and waiting to be sent out. Seth had gone not minutes earlier to try and stop the attacks from Luke Harper and Rowan. Filipa was at her side immediately, grinning like the cheshire cat. "You're gonna enjoy this, aren't you?" Bobbi dead-panned.

Her only response was a blinding smile.

Hands were at her back and then Bobbi was being shoved out, running down the ramp to the sound of cheers. She dodged the wooden rocking chair and zeroed in on the two men that were beating up Seth. Without pausing, Bobbi launched a foot onto Rowan's hip and pushed up, swinging her leg around to nail him in the back of the head with her boot.

As Bobbi fell to the ground, a rush of black passed her, the leather clad Dean Ambrose launching himself at Luke Harper.

Now that the odds were even, Bobbi gazed into the ring. Across the way, Bray Wyatt was laughing and then the crowd started to scream. There was a kick to her back and an arm wrapped around her head, hand at her neck, bent over Filipa's hip. The woman dropped a long kiss onto Bobbi's head and then spun her, laughing as her head ricochetted off the ground. Bobbi twisted onto her stomach and gripped her head, veins in her neck bulging as she tried not to scream, and then she felt Filipa straddle her.

When she peeked an eye open and glanced over her shoulder, Filipa was sitting on her back and holding her arms wide open, face twisted in glee. Shivers went down her arms at the sight of it.

Her head slowly moved so she could stare through her silver hair at the ring. It was vacated by the Wyatt Family, being held successfully by her boys, but when they realised the position Filipa had over Bobbi, Dean launched through the ropes to get to her.

The lights went out.

And when the lights came back on, all members of the Wyatt Family were gone, the lone rocking chair swaying gently.

She was up in Seth's arms then, supported by his body as her head lulled forward against his chest.

"You good?"

"Mm."

* * *

 **i hope the wait for seeing bobbi in action has been worth it! i tried to make it as intense as possible with a result that would be impartial to my obvious favouritism for my OC ;)**

 **thankyou to new readers and old! to _Raquel the writer_ ** (i may just use her actual name, because it's much easier for me to understand and you guys know who she is anyway! occasionally i might write 'the sister', but we'll see how it goes) **,** _**T**_ (i actually got so upset when i went to upload and had nothing from you :( everything has been so awesome to write! but unfortunately, apart from the promo in C17, all of Bray Wyatt's promos have been his! i've only done Filipa's :) what did you think of the match?! was so excited to finish it!) **, and** (thank-you for your insightful reviews! means the world to me, and i hope you enjoy reading the next few chapters :) ), **a MASSIVE thankyou! you guys don't know how much i love you :)**

 **until next time, my loves xx**


	21. Chapter 21

Filipa Howe was something else entirely.

The ball of energy perched herself across the table from Bobbi and grinned manically, wriggling her eyebrows. "What are you doing on the weekend?"

"Working."

"I mean _our_ weekend."

"Buying furniture for my apartment…?" Bobbi trailed off, frowning as she realised where Filipa was going with this. "Or not?"

" _Sleepover!_ " Filipa's voice was loud and shrill and Bobbi very visibly flinched. "We need to _christen_ your new den with some movie marathons and a _lot_ of drinking!"

Bobbi groaned, threw her head back. "I'm gettin' too old for this shit, Pip."

"Where's the Barbara I remember?!" Filipa drawled easily. "The Barbara that got drunk every night and got up on tables and danced for everyone?! The Barbara that voluntarily did body shots?!"

Somewhere back in a hallway that joined catering, Bobbi heard Dolph Ziggler's voice ring out. "I'd pay good money to see that!"

Filipa sent a pointed look at her friend, but Bobbi sighed again, running a hand through her hair. "Honestly, I'm too fuckin' old to be going out and getting smashed with you—"

"I'm talking about getting smashed _in your new home!_ " Filipa was _much_ too excited at the prospect of Bobbi having her own apartment again. "We don't have to go clubbing! Oh, and if you want, Dean was telling me about this snooker pub place down the street that you wanted to go to, and I'd _totally_ let you kick my ass."

"Let me kick your ass?" Bobbi mimicked.

"Yep."

" _Let_ me?"

"You heard me."

"You _suck_ at snooker, Filipa."

The woman snorted and threw her arms out wide. "How do you know?! You haven't played against me in how long?"

"Hey!" Bobbi frowned at her, "That's not my fault! You're the one that up and left!"

There was a scuffle of a shoe behind the bickering pair and then Dean was sitting next to her, dimples full blown as he grinned. "What am I interrupting?"

"Filipa is trying to con me into getting smashed—"

" _In your own apartment!_ "

"—and watching a movie marathon."

Dean nodded and pursed his lips, impressed by the idea. "Seems like a good plan to me."

"See?!" Filipa motioned pointedly at the man sitting across from her with wide eyes. "At least _Dean_ knows how to have a good time!"

"You're basically asking to stay the night while we get drunk and watch scary movies."

Again, Filipa snorted. "Problem?"

"I don't have furniture?" Bobbi flicked a silver strand of hair away from her face, her facial expression equivalent of a question mark. "I don't have a TV? I don't have a DVD player? I don't have anything in there yet?"

Filipa nodded as she gained the new information, the mop of curly hair on her head bopping up and down. "All good, Bobbi! We go furniture shopping on Wednesday and crash at Dean-o's and get shit-faced and then on Thursday, _boom!_ Movies!"

Next to her, Dean nodded his agreement enthusiastically. "Fine by me."

She stared for a very long time at the younger woman. "Have we done a one-eighty on our personalities?"

"Huh?"

"Bob, if you used to be like this—"

"Don't even, Dean."

"Were you a ball of energy as well?"

Filipa tried to smother a laugh. "Is this when I mention the time you—"

"Filipa."

"—were so energetic that you were running laps around Regal and then face planted and broke your nose?"

Bobbi groaned loudly as Dean began to cackle. Today was going to be a long day.

—

Sitting across from Bobbi was Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. She idly fidgeted with her fingers, glanced up every now and then as they mulled over some paperwork on the table.

"Am… am I in trouble?" Bobbi slowly asked.

But when Stephanie looked up at her, the woman's smile was almost contagious. "No! No, no, you've done nothing wrong! We're just trying to figure out…" she trailed off and gazed at her husband, chewing on her lip. And then looked back over to Bobbi. "Our ratings for the Elimination Chamber were _through the roof_ , the best we've had since we first brought out the pay-per-view in 2010. When the board looked over it this morning, they noticed something very peculiar."

"You know, the first _ever_ Elimination Chamber had around 285,000 buys. That was four years ago, and last year was pretty close," Hunter continued. "Up until a couple of days before Sunday, buys were down to 183,000. As _soon_ as we granted that match between you and Filipa?"

Stephanie leant towards Bobbi in her seat, eyes wide. "Buy rates were over _double_ of what it previously was."

 _Huh?_

"I'm sorry?"

"What we're saying, Bobbi, is that people want to _see_ **you**. They will pay to see **you.** Do you know _how long_ it's been since we've had a woman pull _this_ much?"

The silver haired woman stared at Hunter with a frown. "That's because you built up our match… you put time into our feud. It wasn't just a 'one encounter will solve everything' kinda problem. All those women on the roster? If you gave them the time of day to sell a feud…" Bobbi trailed off and raised her shoulders, "they'll sell the _hell_ out of it. I mean, look at what you're doing with NXT, Hunter! _That_ is women's wrestling."

"But we believe _you_ are the one to spearhead it!" Stephanie exclaimed. "That's why we called you in here today. Unfortunately Filipa is out preparing for tonight with Bray, otherwise she _would_ be in here, but we wanted to run this past you first."

Hunter's gaze as he looked at Bobbi became pensive. "Now, we'll understand if you don't want to go this far in a match and we're more than willing to do something you're comfortable with, but we want to know what you think about your match at WrestleMania—"

"Hang on," Bobbi raised a hand, looked between her bosses incredulously. "I'm getting a match at WrestleMania?"

"Damn right you are."

 _Holy fuck_.

"A singles match?"

"Against Filipa."

 _Holy fuck_.

Holy fuck. What?

Stephanie must have seen the look of awe play across Bobbi's face and laughed, her eyes crinkling at the edges. "You've given us all the right reasons to do this, Bobbi, don't be so surprised."

"You can't be serious…" Bobbi trailed off. Her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking, but she'd stuffed them under her legs so it couldn't be seen, and she felt her stomach roll. Her dream, the _only_ dream that had ever gotten her through the hard times, had been to have a singles match at WrestleMania. And now she was given the opportunity to go up against one of her best friends. In a singles match. At WrestleMania.

"Oh, we're very serious."

"Bobbi, you said something to me at the start of this year." Stephanie McMahon was sitting back with her arms folded across her chest. "You told me that if we wanted to give _you_ any kind of wrestling credibility, then we'd have to put you in a Hell in a Cell match."

Bobbi felt her heart lurch up into her throat.

"Now, we're not going to go _that_ far. Not yet. But what we _are_ willing to do is give you a No Holds Barred match. And this is how we're going to do it."

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **February 25th**

 **Milwaukee, Wisconsin**

They were set for another promo.

"Got yourself together tonight?" Roman asked. "Or are you gonna go _rogue_ on us again?"

Dean, who had his back to Roman, yelled out in frustration. "Always telling me that _I_ needa relax," he motioned at himself, "alright, I think you're still a little bit _mad_ about the DQ thing?" He gazed across at Seth, frowned. "He still mad about the DQ thing?"

"I dunno why you're bring that up again," Seth drawled, wiping a hand across his beard.

"The DQ is a thing?" Roman asked incredulously. "It's a _thing_?"

"Look, I dunno what you want from me, alright—"

But Roman interrupted him. "Guess what, a DQ is a _loss_."

"You don't want my help!"

Reaching her arms up to tighten the gathering of hair on her head, Bobbi growled lowly. "Freakin' try and find Ambrose and then bring him out and get my head planted on the floor."

" _Two_ losses in under a year and a half," Roman shoved two fingers up in front of Dean's face, ignoring Bobbi's comment. "Two losses in _one week_. Why? Because of _you_."

Ambrose rocked back on his heels and then rushed an open hand at Roman, saying, "Maybe if you weren't always _yellin'_ at me—"

" _Hey!_ Hey!" Seth finally yelled. "Zip it, alright?"

"You listenin' to this?" Dean asked Bobbi as he pointed a finger at the Samoan.

"You know what, you lost, alright?" Seth said to Roman. "You got knocked back down, you're a grown man, pick yourself up! Move on. You know who's movin' on? Bray Wyatt thinks he's movin' on."

Roman shook his head, pursed his lips. "He's not."

"He thinks we're ashes in the wake of his path to John Cena. In case you don't remember, we were left for _dead_ at the Elimination Chamber. Well let's show Bray Wyatt that it's not that easy to get rid of The Shield! Let's show Bray Wyatt that we're not four lone wolves who can be picked off one by one!" Seth spun to Bobbi, his eyes wide as he tried to get her riled up. "Let's show Sister Abigail that even when she drives your head into the concrete, she _can't keep you down_. Let's show them that we are the _hounds of justice_ and we run _together_. Let's show Bray Wyatt that when you provoke the hounds, you _get the teeth!_ "

Ambrose was cackling across from Bobbi and Roman yelled, " _Strap up guys!_ It's time to hunt some Wyatts."

—

"Who're you texting?"

Bobbi looked down at her phone and then across at a curious Filipa. "My brother."

She hummed back at her. "How is he?"

"Better, apparently."

"Not beating anyone up?"

"Not from what I've heard." Bobbi shrugged and looked back down at her phone. "I have people that send me updates, like his shrink and the anger management class coordinator."

The two girls were in Vegas, shopping for furniture for Bobbi's new apartment. So far on her checklist, she had a couch, a TV, some speakers, and a dining table. What she _really_ needed was food, a fridge, some alcohol, and a bed. None of which she had.

"So is he still, like… dating that chick? Sandra? What was her name?"

Bobbi chuckled as she ran her hands over plush cushions, fiddling with the price tag. "Sarah."

Poking her tongue into the side of her cheek, her friend gazed around the shop bored, tried to stifle a yawn. "You done yet?"

"No, I was planning to stay in the place for the next three hours trying to find a couple of cushions for my couch."

The sarcasm was dripping from her voice and Filipa rolled her eyes, chucked the pillow into the trolley. Then another two that looked equally as soft. "The situation with Sarah? What's it like? Is he being a shit?"

"No, he's taking it pretty well," the silver-haired woman disclosed, "I mean, it could be a lot worse. From what I figure, they're taking a break in the relationship until he can get himself back under control, and Sarah is more than willing to wait for him. And he's willing to try for her."

"How sweet."

"Ladies!"

The two women turned at the masculine voice and Bobbi's eyes dragged over the male assistant. He looked thin as a stick, little tub on his belly, bright blue eyes and a wide smile. Bobbi tried not to look disappointed. "Yeah?"

"Are you beautiful women okay with just checking out the furniture? You don't need a hand with anything at all?"

Almost gagging at how sickeningly sweet he sounded, Bobbi shook her head. "No, thanks, we're fine."

The man studied their faces, looked between the two females, and Bobbi knew what was happening right away. "Say…" he murmured, eyebrows furrowed, "you're not those two wrestling chicks are you?"

Bobbi had thought they'd been pretty inconspicuous when they'd dressed that morning. Her tattooed arm was covered with a grey sweater, white jeans slung low on her hips, maroon beanie hiding away the black tendrils of her hair. Across from her, Filipa's hair was standing on end with friz. High maroon socks, patterned skirt, white top, jean jacket covering the scar.

She felt Filipa nudge her foot with the thick heels she'd stolen from Bobbi. "Which wrestling chicks?"

"From WWE," the worker clarified. His eyebrows were still furrowed.

"No idea who you're talking about, sweetheart," Bobbi condescendingly said, frowning at him and then turned to her friend. "Who's he talking about?"

"I don't know."

"Who are you talking about?" She directed the question at the man this time.

"Don't worry about it," he smiled quickly. Then, he was walking away in the opposite direction.

 _Mission success_.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **March 3rd**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

Triple H had granted them their rematch against the Wyatt Family on the RAW show.

When she walked out through the crowd with her boys, the audience gave their Illinois native a raucous round of applause. Bobbi thought she was going to go deaf. Standing in the ring and waiting for the lights to come back on was a different kind of feeling.

The stand-off sent tingles down her spine, but soon enough Seth and Dean were running the ropes and launching themselves out and into Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. Her boys slid back into the ring while she and Roman stared stoically at Bray and Filipa.

Something had shifted in the dynamic between the two females. The crowd realised it, as well. Even though the Sister Abigail character always had the upper hand on Bobbi, the Shield member no longer looked scared. The Elimination Chamber had proven to Bobbi that the sister was just as human as she was, that she could be put down; and that put a whole new surge of confidence in the silver-haired woman's veins.

But then it was all out. Bobbi bounced herself off the ropes closest to her and dropped to her knees, slid along the apron until her thick boots were planted on Filipa's chest and shoving her backwards.

The shorter woman flew off the ground, and in the ring Roman lifted Bray into a Samoan drop that echoed through her brain. Back on the apron now, Bobbi placed herself at the corner as the bell rang.

Rollins started against Harper, quick in his reflexes, managing to flip out of a top rope German suplex like it was second nature to him. The Wyatt member was quickly shoved out.

Shoving her hand out, Bobbi felt the slap of his palm against hers and ducked in, bouncing against the ropes that Rowan was climbing onto. As Seth hit the bearded man with a dropkick that sent him tumbling back to the floor, Bobbi launched herself over the far ropes in a front flip, landing squarely on Harper's shoulder and pushing him to the ground. Miraculously, Bobbi also landed on her feet. Above her, Seth rebounded from the ropes she was closest to and launched himself through them in a suicide dive, driving Erick Rowan back down.

Bobbi made quick time to slide back into the ring and tag Seth back in, but as soon as she'd ducked out of the way, Luke Harper was back in and charging at them. Seth's boot caught him in the side of the head with a standing enzuigiri.

The Shield were dominating early on and the crowd were eating it up.

The nimble man dashed around to the corner turnbuckles, pulled himself up on top of them, and then the Wyatt spokesperson ducked between the ropes. Ambrose was quick to propel himself in, but their tousle hit the ropes Seth was delicately balancing on and sent him crashing to the floor.

"What the hell are you doin', man?!" Roman yelled at Dean, heavy frown across his face.

She watched helplessly as Luke Harper lifted Seth off his feet and threw him against the barricade. The match was quick to turn in favour of the Wyatt's, and Harper made sure to gloat in front of Dean.

"Think you're so tough, huh?" Dean spat, planting his feet on the bottom ropes and pushing himself taller. "Why don't you come over here and try that?!"

Harper laughed at him.

But when he turned back to Seth, the smaller man landed a boot right against his smug face.

It was a battle for the ropes, then. As Rollins dragged himself across the apron and towards Dean, the United States Champion caught sight of Bray Wyatt away from his corner, walking away from the desperate Seth. Roman was quick to follow.

There were no rules in the match that stipulated it had to be male against male, female against female. And when Seth looked across at Bobbi hopelessly, trying to warn her, Bobbi leant her arm over the top rope and slapped it against his.

But their hesitation in making the decision had cost them valuable time. Time in which Harper had used to tag in Erick Rowan with. Before Bobbi could even figure out a game plan, Harper had wrapped his large hands around her silver hair and lifted her off the mat, slinging her so far across the ring she landed in the Wyatt's corner. She landed heavy on her shoulder, cried out.

"Rowan," she heard Filipa crow above her, "it's time to make the sacrifice."

The large man fell to his knees and held his hands out so Filipa could elegantly tag herself in.

There were hands under her body then, easily lifting her, and the sequence that followed was so quick Bobbi didn't have a chance to react; the woman gripped the back of her neck with slender fingers, hooked her across a hip and spun, driving her head into the apron.

For a long moment, the only sound Bobbi could hear was that of Seth screaming at her team mates and a cackling Filipa. She laid motionless on the mat, didn't feel Filipa going for a cover, and when she found the strength to lift onto her shaky arms, Rowan was once more standing over her. He buried a boot into her stomach, his kick sending the wind from her lungs but also shoving her closer to her corner.

Another boot, another couple of inches closer. Bobbi was being _toyed_ with. She was curled into a ball now, grasping at her torso, face pulling in pain.

Across the ring, Bray was yelling. "Tag him, Barbara, tag in your _hero!_ "

She'd barely even reached out towards him when Ambrose slapped a palm against hers, but then she was too busy being pulled to the padded ground to register what he was doing.

When she opened her eyes, Bobbi was staring up at a concerned looking Roman. "You right?" He asked slowly.

He held an open hand out towards her and she interlocked her fingers, gingerly pulling herself to her feet. Bobbi placed another hand on the apron to support herself, tried to stretch out the pounding muscles in her abdomen. Her head was still a little fuzzy, but it was nothing compared to the pain radiating through her torso.

"Let's go, then, princess!" Reigns slapped her on the shoulder and jumped back up onto the apron, but Bobbi was slow to follow him.

She felt the presence of the camera next to her and shut her eyes, pulled a deep breath in with a grimace. If she wanted to hit the boys, she had to be able to take hits _from_ the boys. It had always been like that. So with a hand at her stomach and the other wrapping around the ropes above her, Bobbi bit down on her cheek and pulled herself up onto the apron, one knee at a time before finally managing to find her footing.

Barely managing to look up in time, Bobbi jumped to the right to avoid a large boot to the face, Roman coping the hit instead. With narrowed eyes, she glared at a smug Luke Harper. In the ring, Dean had locked on with a figure four, arching his back into a bridge to add extra pressure to Rowan's straight leg.

Neither she nor Seth could move fast enough to save Dean, though. Luke Harper dashed towards him and rebounded off the ropes closest to Ambrose, jumped, drove both of his feet into Dean's torso.

Without having to move, Reigns was back into the ring and throwing the offender out, quick to follow him and then toss him into the barricades. Bray Wyatt used the distraction to tag himself in, and suddenly Dean was in a world of trouble and laid out in the centre of the squared circle. As soon as Roman was back up on the apron, Bray turned and drove a fist under the Samoan's chin.

She watched as Harper was tagged in, watched as he landed a dropkick against Dean's chin that hand him reeling back into the corner. She watched as Rowan was tagged in, watched as he threw Dean down into a back breaker.

"C'mon, Dean," Bobbi whispered, clenching her jaw in frustration.

With Roman still down on the floor and Bobbi barely standing, by the time Ambrose managed to hit Bray Wyatt with a DDT, he only had one viable option to tag in — and that was Seth.

Yet when Dean reached their corner, Seth wasn't there for the tag; he'd jumped from the apron and refused to let Dean switch out. The audience were loud when they realised what was happening, but Bobbi didn't have the opportunity to see much else. Hands were wrapped around her ankles, tugging her down from the apron, and then Filipa slung her into the metal post of the ring. Barely catching most of the impact with her hands, the silver-haired woman toppled to the floor almost lifelessly.

Faintly, she could her the sound of the crowd murmuring in shock around her. In the back of her mind, Bobbi _knew_ that Ambrose was alone in the ring with no one to tag. Roman was down. She was down. And Seth had turned his back on them.

Filipa's hands knotted thought her hair, dragged her back to her feet. The woman grabbed her face. Bobbi stared through half-lidded eyes at the laughing Wyatt member. Then, there was a knee to her stomach. Bobbi screamed out and bent over in pain, would have fallen to the ground hand Filipa not kept her standing. She was being spun suddenly, and Bobbi braced even before she was sent stomach first into the padded barricade, screaming out again.

She fell limp to the ground, curled in a ball.

The crowd's yelling was ringing in her ears and very slowly, Bobbi found the strength to push up onto her arms. She crawled forward for a brief moment before falling back onto her side, eyes screwed shut and hand over her mouth to stop the whimpers.

But Filipa wasn't done. The Shield member found herself being rolled back into the ring and for the second time that night, she was stretched over Filipa's hip. Her stomach screamed in pain but soon enough, her head was being driven into the apron, her body falling limp beside Ambrose's. He'd received the exact same move from Bray Wyatt moments before to secure the win for the Wyatt Family.

This was going to hurt in the morning.

* * *

 **i was gonna wait until tomorrow to post this, but to be quite honest, i couldn't wait! im super happy with the way that the RAW match panned out and i love writing the banter between Filipa and Bobbi, it feels organic :)**

 **To _Raquel the writer_ ** (thankyou!) **, T** (heheh it's all good :D just happy that you're back. happy that you think i couldve written the gold that comes out of his mouth tho ;) gonna throw more of them interacting back in, so look forward to it :) also, hope you do well with school! what grade are you in?) **and quinzel harley** (i'd use the dot, but last time i did it removed your whole name... thanks for picking out the minor errors, means that i can go back over them later and readjust accordingly (plus, it's a little funny as well). glad that you're enjoying this and hope you like the next few chapters to come :)!), **a massive thankyou! as usual, you make updating worth it :)**

 **much love xx**


	22. Chapter 22

**SmackDown Taping**

 **March 4th**

 **Detroit, Michigan**

When the crowd locked their eyes onto the three members of The Shield stomping down the stairs, the murmurs started. _Where was Seth? Where was the one that had betrayed his brothers and sister?_

Bobbi's torso was wrapped in medical tape. She didn't have any cracked ribs, thank God, but Rowan's kicks had been so hard that she was still aching (when they'd got to the back after the match, his apologies had been ten-fold; Bobbi just told him to pull back on the strength next time). So, the doctor on hand had compressed the muscles and sent her on her way with a gentle smile.

When they were in the ring, Bobbi glanced up at the titantron as footage of the previous night showed. It showed Dean's DDT on Bray Wyatt, it showed the vicious attack on herself by Filipa, and it showed Seth walking past where she was being beat up. And it also showed his obvious conflicting emotions.

Beside her, Roman and Dean shared a long look of matching anger, but Bobbi's eyes were narrowed as she stared down the ramp in rage.

"We can handle getting beat up, we can handle getting hurt, we can handle physical pain, that's no problem," Dean spoke into the microphone, "I don't know about you two, but there's one thing I _can't_ handle, what I _will not_ tolerate, and that's being lied to; lied to for the past eighteen months." He spun to face the audience now. "See, I was under the _impression_ that The Shield had each other's backs. Evidently, Seth Rollins didn't have our backs on Monday night RAW; _he walked out on us in the middle of a war!_ "

As much as Bobbi was _pissed_ with Seth for leaving them high and dry, she was also pissed at Dean. If he hadn't have left the corner to go after Wyatt, then Bobbi wouldn't be standing there injured.

Dean rolled his neck heavily, bared his teeth. "Uh, so, we're not much for _talkin'_ right now, but Seth Rollins we know you're here, since you called this little summit, alright, so why don't you come out here and say what you're gonna say. Tell me somethin', tell me a story, tell me a lie, make an excuse, say something after _all the wars we've been through!_ "

"You better come out here and explain yourself before this war begins, and judging by the look on Roman's face, the look on Bobbi's face, you got about _thirty seconds_."

Rolling her shoulders, she lifted her eyes to follow Dean's erratic movements around the ring.

And when their theme blared through the arena, Bobbi found herself glancing back at the ramp. The man in question was slowly walking out. His head was held high but he was very cautious as he stared at his team mates.

When he was up on the apron, it wasn't his voice that rang out. It was Roman's. "Before you open your mouth, I hope you thought _really_ hard about what you got to say. And it better be _good_."

"Alright, look, I get it," Seth finally said. "Leaving you to fight the Wyatt's on Monday night 3 on 4 maybe wasn't the most opportune time to prove a point. But what you don't _understand_ is that the war _isn't with the Wyatt's_ , the _war_ is within _us_ , alright?!"

Next to her, Dean was rocking back and forth on his feet and spitting words she could barely hear.

"Look, it hasn't been a secret that The Shield hasn't been The Shield in quite some time. But I did what I _always_ do Monday, I sacrificed _myself_ for the greater—"

Bobbi had heard enough. She reached forwards, snatched the microphone out of Roman's hands. "You sacrificed yourself? Bobbi laughed, stared at him incredulously. "You sacrificed _yourself_? Were you even _there_ on Monday when these two were off fighting Bray? When I tagged in so _you_ wouldn't have to take the full force of their attacks?"

Ambrose and Reigns had shifted their glares to her, but she had a point. "Do you think this thing that I'm wearing around my waist is a _fashion statement?!_ You _didn't_ even think, did you? You didn't think for _one second_ when you left us high and dry, I mean, you walked _right_ past Sister Abigail when she drove her knee into my stomach! The _only_ people _you_ sacrificed last night was us."

His stare was softer now as he looked at her, face almost apologetic. "I did it so that we could all get back on the same page. Look," he said then, " _look_. _Look at you guys!_ For the first time in _months_ you're standin' in the same ring, you're on the same page, you're seein' things eye to eye! Don't you get it?! I've _proven my point_! I'm already half way there."

Dean's smirk was humourless but the Samoan hand on his chest kept him back from attacking the two-toned man. Hesitantly, Seth slid between the ropes and walked towards were she and Reigns were standing.

"Look. We can call this right now. We can walk and go our separate ways. And guess what, we'll be _fine_. We're all talented people, but you know what? What if _fine_ isn't _good enough_?" His words were slow, deliberate. "From the moment we came to the WWE, _we've been kicking down walls!_ And if we stand together, _united_ , no one can touch us. Not the Wyatt Family, not the Undertaker, not John Cena, _no one_. You know it," he pointed at Roman, " _you_ know it," then at Dean, "and _you_ know it," he finally said to Bobbi. "So let's _do_ what _we do_. Let's be The Shield _and take this place back!_ "

The crowd were loud in their agreement. But Bobbi was still brooding over the fact that she and Dean'd had to take one for the team.

Ambrose's face mimicked her emotions and he raised his eyebrows, nodded his head. "That it? That's it? Oh, that's your _great_ brilliant explanation by the _architect_ of The Shield," he paced forwards, shoved Seth back, "I'm supposed to be okay with that? Yeah, I get it, I get it—"

Again Dean shot forwards, his arms flying out to shove Seth down on his back. As soon as he had, Roman's thick hands had tossed him backwards, the Samoan for once playing the peace keeper.

"Alright, alright you know what," Seth seethed as he pushed up from the floor, "you know what?"

The architect shot his hand out, catching Dean square on his jaw as he fell to the mat. Ambrose blinked a couple of times as he held his face, his lips in a hard line.

"I feel _a lot_ better!" Seth yelled. "That felt _great_! You know what I think? Now that _that's_ outta my system, I think you might need to get something out of your system, too. So, I'm gonna do what I do best, I'm gonna take one for the team—"

It wasn't Dean's hand that shot out at Seth, and the force only made him stumble back a few steps, but when Bobbi slapped him, the look he sent her was priceless. She didn't have a microphone, but she still managed to say loud enough "now _I_ feel great as well!"

Roman looked at her with a mix of surprise and caution.

But now that Ambrose was standing, he flung a fist out that caught the side of Rollins' jaw. This time, Seth landed flat on his back.

It took a while for Seth to get back to his feet. But when he did, he lifted the microphone to his mouth and glanced between the three Shield members in front of him. "Are we done here? Or are we _done_?"

He held his fist out and Bobbi didn't miss the prayer that flashed through his eyes. _Please, join me_.

She bounced on the apron, shimmied her shoulders a little, threw her hair back over her shoulder. And held her fist out against his. Across from them, Roman and Dean were still angry, pondering their decisions.

Reigns was hesitant to join them. But he did.

And that left the lunatic fringe.

"We all just gonna hold our fists out now?" He spat. "Like nothin' happened? S'that right?" He looked away, bared his teeth. "Fuckin' luck out." Then he walked forwards, nodded his head animatedly. "I'm just gonna put my fist in with you lot, that right? Well you know what, _fuck_ this."

Dean thrust his fist to join their's, and just like that, The Shield was back on the same page.

"This happens again and you're not gonna have any balls left, Rollins," Dean muttered through a humourless smirk. "This _works_. Ya hear me right now, this _fuckin'_ works or I'm gonna cave your head in, you piece o' shit."

—

She'd just changed out of her wrestling gear and was pulling a flimsy singlet on, ripped jeans covering her thighs. The show had been a blast. Nothing was like being a part of The Shield. There was a dark khaki leather green jacket tossed over her arms to keep her warm, tall heels on her feet.

"Where the hell are you goin'?"

When Bobbi looked towards the entrance, Dean was standing there massaging his arm. He'd taken a pretty heavy hit when he was in the ring training earlier in the day and was obviously feeling the consequences.

"I'm flying back to Chicago, red-eye," Bobbi provided. "Catching up with Phil for lunch before going to see my mom and then getting my roots re-done. My hair," she clarified again when he sent her a look of confusion, motioning to the visible regrowth. "Need to make it look less tacky."

"It looks fine."

Bobbi rolled her eyes at him and finished shoving her wrestling gear into the duffle bag, throwing it on top of her suitcase. "Sure."

She walked towards the door, intending to get on the soonest flight into Illinois, but Dean didn't move when she reached him.

"Dean," Bobbi groaned. "I really just want to get on my flight and sleep—"

Even before he moved, Bobbi could feel the lust radiating off of him, the kind of lust that meant if he didn't get his way he'd be crabby for the rest of the week. The kind of lust that had Bobbi's stomach twisting.

"Barbara."

At the sound of his voice her toes curled in the heels. Then his hand was under her chin, fingers wrapping around her neck, pushing her back into the room as he kicked the door shut with a boot.

"Dean…"

Before she could finish her sentence, the man had pushed her back against a production crate, pressing her against neck until her back was bending over the metal. He followed her, towered over her figure, dark blue eyes staring down at her lips. Dropped his hand, curled his fingers around her thighs, lifted her so that she was sitting on the box.

Bobbi pushed up onto her arms as he unclasped the jeans, pulled them off her and over the heels harshly. When he pulled back to admire her body, his gaze trailed from the heels to the lace panties, trailed back down to the blue tattoo spanning the side of her thigh.

He grazed a thumb across the blue mark. Stopped.

Without thinking, Bobbi threaded her fingers through his and pulled him closer, pressed her lips against his in a soft kiss. "We gonna do something or you just gonna stare at me all night?" She murmured against his lips when she broke away, eyes soft.

Dean didn't need anymore pushing.

Trailing her fingers under the black shirt he was wearing, pulling it up over his shoulders, Bobbi nosed the gentle hair spanning across his chest and kissed the soft skin, but then he was pushing her back, lifting the singlet over her head, pushing his hands between her bra and unclipping it.

His calloused hand grazed down her back as he pulled a nipple in his mouth, the other tangling in the hair at her nape of her neck.

She was going to enjoy this.

When Bobbi had gotten to the airport, all flights back into Chicago had been cancelled — which, really, threw the biggest kind of spanner in her plans.

"Why don't you just come back home then?" Dean had murmured against her hair, arms wrapped tight around her shoulders.

Roman and Filipa were somewhere close by but it was four AM and Bobbi really couldn't be bothered arguing. Instead, she focused on the way 'home' had fallen from Dean's lips like it was second nature to him. Was Vegas her home now? Because her apartment was there? Or was it her home because he was there?

Bobbi sighed, leaned further back into the warmth of his chest. "They're trying to get me to start a twitter account."

"I hate twitter. The fuck am I supposed to do with 140 characters?"

"Share your thoughts with the world," she giggled back. "I think I will. That way when you're being mean to me—"

Dean snorted. "I'm never mean to you."

"You _laughed_ at me when Pip told you that I broke my nose," Bobbi pouted.

"Oh, come on! That was funny!"

"Next time you pop your shoulder out, remind me to laugh at you." Reaching a hand up, Bobbi flicked the lid of his cap, poking her tongue out. "Plus, I can post embarrassing photos of you whenever I want."

"Never," Dean drawled out. He laid his head on top of Bobbi's as she turned back towards where Filipa and Roman were walking back towards them.

"They're talking shit about us."

"They're talking shit about you, I'm an angel."

—

 **RAW**

 **March 10th**

 **Memphis, Tennessee**

Her and Reigns against Filipa and Wyatt.

That was what the card read for that night and Bobbi's skin tingled with anticipation. One of the things she loved more than wrestling in general was wrestling against Filipa. Some of the hits were real, some of the hits weren't, but they went with the flow and kept it organic.

Over the weekend, Bobbi had finally gotten herself a twitter account with the handle **_WWEBobbiArlett_** (loved how original it had been when Stephanie had suggested it over the phone). And coincidentally, her first tweet had been along the lines of ' _original, huh?'_. Her sudden influx of followers had loved that.

"They're giving you a new get up tonight, right?" Bobbi asked Filipa as they wandered the back-ways aimlessly.

Filipa nodded. "Too hot for the hoodie as it is, let alone the fact that it's not even summer, so."

But Bobbi had to admit, when they both changed into their respective ring gear for the night, Filipa _definitely_ suited her new look more. The striped and high waisted knicker-shorts, black sleeveless crop top, a metallic see through tunic of sorts held together by a belt.

"What do you think?"

Bobbi nodded. "Love it."

When their make-up and hair were done, the two friends separated ways— Bobbi riding up to the second level of the arena, Filipa staying with the rest of her stable.

The match-up between the four was only supposed to be a quick one and they made every move out there look hard and awesome, something that was worthwhile watching, something that would show the universe that the battle between the Wyatt Family and The Shield was far from over.

There was still medical tape wrapped tight around Bobbi's ribs and immediately Filipa took fire to the weak spot, sinking her fists and her knee into the silver-haired woman's midsection over and over, leaving Bobbi a writhing mess on the ground. A quick cover. A quick kick out. Filipa pulled her into a headlock and spun her around until she was staring at a distressed looking Reigns, and as soon as Bobbi found her footing, Filipa wrapped her legs tight around Bobbi's waist in an adapted sleeper hold.

"C'mon, Bobbi!" Seth yelled at her, "C'mon! Get up, get her off of ya!"

Finding some power left in her legs, Bobbi pushed to her feet, even with the woman still hanging tight around her body, and fell forwards towards Roman's outstretched hand, barely managing to slap hers against it.

As Filipa disentangled from The Shield member, Reigns stepped into the ring and stepped up to the short haired woman, towering over her menacingly. It didn't take long for her to tag Bray in.

It went back and forth between the two as Seth checked up on Bobbi's ribs, and she gazed up just in time to see Roman flying like a big cat around the squared circle. She pushed up onto her feet, locked eyes with the Samoan. "Hey Ro," she called out loudly, "Let's do the thing!"

And, well, the thing… they hadn't really thought of a name for it yet, but it was _definitely_ a thing. So as Roman rolled the Wyatt Family spokesperson up onto his shoulders in preparation for a power-bomb, he tagged Bobbi into the match, turning as she pulled herself up onto the top rope. Bobbi launched off the ropes and wrapped an arm around his throat, helping Roman to drive the man down in a thunderous power-bomb. When Bobbi rolled through, she stared at the saviour of the Wyatt Family, smirking in victory when she didn't try anything.

Moving backwards to tag the Samoan back into the match, Bobbi laughed in glee when Reigns picked up the win after a swinging Superman punch and a thunderous spear.

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **March 11th**

 **North Little Rock, Arkansas**

The Shield didn't really have a proper match that night— just a three minute match of Seth facing up against Damien Sandow and then being ringside to aid in Kane's loss to the Big Show.

Much like Monday night, the match was designed to showcase the ability of The Shield. So when Rollins stepped into the ring for three minutes against Sandow, Bobbi expected nothing but greatness. And that was exactly what she got.

Jabs to the face, a couple of shoves. When Sandow kicked Seth from the apron, the three remaining members of The Shield made sure to look as intimidating as possible so the man wouldn't follow where he wasn't wanted. An enzuigiri, a suicide dive. And then a curb stomp. One, two, three, Rollins had the match in the bag.

But what was even better that?

What was even better was when Dean didn't join his fist into the three that were already pressed together, instead smirking dangerously and glancing over his shoulder at the fallen superstar.

What was _better_ than a dominant win was picking Sandow back up and hitting a triple power-bomb.

" _Now_ we can fist in," Dean yelled over the man's prone body. " _Bam!_ "

Bobbi laughed in delight as they all joined in, smiling at Dean as he bopped his head to the sound of their theme music, mischievous and satisfied glint in his eyes.

As soon as the quartet made it backstage they were rushed into a corporate looking room to film their promo with Kane. With Roman and Seth standing to her right and Dean on her left, Bobbi busied herself with fixing some of the tape around her wrists.

"Did you see his head?" Seth was saying to Roman, imitating the impact of Damien Sandow's head onto the canvas.

"What exactly do you need us in here for?" Dean asked, looking up at the big red monster.

His grin was forced. "Well, I'm just glad you took my advice for RAW. I mean, I hate to say that I told you so, but— congratulations Roman and Bobbi on your victory over the Wyatt Family." Bobbi smirked and shared a look with Ambrose. "And congratulations Dean on your successful title defence against Mark Henry on Main Event."

Kane lifted a hand to put on Dean's shoulder. Dean shrugged it off with a subtle disgruntled expression. "Oh. Okay. _Thank_ you. Did you expect anything different?" He glanced at his stablemates in pride. "Why are you even worried about us right now, shouldn't you be, uh, shouldn't you be focused on your match tonight… against the Big Show? You know, seven foot, five hundred pounds? Knocked you out last week?"

The giant of a man did _not_ look impressed. "You still have a lot to learn about this business. But tonight I'm… going to _teach_ by example. I'm gonna _destroy_ the Big Show. And I am _ordering_ the four of you to be at ringside. So you can get a close-up look on how to properly _handle_ a situation. Who knows, I might even leave some scraps of the Big Show for you."

"Oh," Rollins laughed, his face flashing in realisation. "So _that's_ why you want us out there? To— to pick up the _scraps_? Nice try, Kane. We know why you want us out there. To protect you. When the Big Show tries to knock you out again. Cause he's gonna."

Bobbi faked a shiver in anticipation and raised her eyebrows. "Crunch of fist against face, _ouch_. Good luck trying to look corporate after that."

"You just don't get it, do you? We don't take orders from you," Roman said as he stepped forwards. "But we are looking forward to how you _do_ handle the situation with the Big Show."

Seth laughed and pushed between the devil's favourite demon and Reigns. "Look, look, look, look, look, take it easy, a'right? Take it easy. Kane, don't worry. You saw what happened out there earlier with Damien Sandow. When it comes down to it, push comes to shove, The Shield _always_ does what's best for business."

"Believe that," Roman almost grunted.

Almost half an hour later, the four were standing alongside some production crates as Corporate Kane paused in front of them, obviously on his way to the ring.

"Gentlemen— and lady— I don't like to repeat myself. Let's go."

The Shield stared after the giant of a man unimpressed and unmoving.

Eventually though, they did walk around to the side of the entrance, slipping out quietly and without the sound of their theme. As Bobbi's pale green eyes met Big Show's, she tried to remember the last time she'd been near the same ring as him. Last year, was it? It had been a long time and yet nothing had changed with his cautious gaze and her cheeky smirk.

The match moved back and forth in momentum as Dean and Roman talked beside her, a battle of the giants which almost ended in a choke-slam to Big Show from the top rope.

Bobbi shared an impressed grin with Seth when Show kicked out.

The big red monster pushed himself into the corner and looked at the man that was standing next to her, saying "c'mon let's go! Let's go!" in an attempt to get them to sabotage his match. Was he all out of moves?

Pulling up onto the apron, the four members of The Shield looked beyond the ropes to the Big Show. But they did nothing but look.

"Now what?! Do I have to repeat myself?" Kane yelled. "I told you _to get him! Now get in and ruin him!_ "

But Rollins did the exact opposite. He motioned at his neck, axing off the kill mission and jumped from the canvas, held out a hand to Bobbi to help her down. And while Kane was red in the face yelling at them, the Big Show was standing behind him in anticipation. The choke-slam was enough for Show to pick up the win.

When the giant standing looked over his shoulder, Bobbi caught his gaze. And sent him a reassuring smile. He sent a tentative one right back.

As they moved back towards the barricades to launch themselves closer to a cool shower and a colder drink, the lone female closed up the group, sending one last look over her shoulder at where the agitated Corporate Kane was supposed to be. But he wasn't there. And then his hands were in her hair, pulling her up and between the ropes.

The crowd screamed for Bobbi and she let out a cry, felt his large hand curve around her throat as she tried to pry it off.

"Who do you think you are?!" Kane yelled at her. "You obey _me_!"

A hand at her waist hoisted her high into the air, but when Bobbi came crashing to the mat, it wasn't because of a choke-slam— Reigns had folded Kane in half with a spear.

Seth's hands were pushing under her arms and lifting her away from the fallen general manager. He stood in front of her, almost in a stance of defence, but there was no need; Kane wasn't getting up anytime soon. And suddenly she saw red.

"Who do I think I am?!" She screamed, tried to sprint forwards and attack him until arms curled around her waist and held her back. "I'm a _hound!_ Put your hands on me again and I'll fuckin' _show you_ who I am!"

Behind her, Dean pushed a heavy breath out of his mouth. "Language, toots."

* * *

 **weeeeeeeeee that took too long... o well :) also, i do apologise for any mistakes, i haven't proof read this one.**

 **to my lovely reviewers, _Raquel the writer (_** yes, I one hundred percent agree! just one more thing that's gotta happen before tho :)), **_hOtlilmofo_** (omggg that's a lot to read so quickly! but obviously it was pretty alright then, huh ;) im super happy you think Bobbi is realistic, its awesome to hear!) _**quinzel harley**_ (for all your reviews, thankyou! love you hun! glad i could finally turn your opinion around with this whole universe of WWE!) **and _T_** (something probably did happen, but we'll never know ;) YESSSSS IM GLAD YOU AGREE WITH THE STREET FIGHT :D and i have to say OH LORDY i do NOT miss school one bit, but i wish you the best of luck!) _ **,**_ **thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me :)**

 **also, because i suck at describing looks, just chuck a look on my polyvore at the new style for Filipa as Sister Abigail :) until next time, wonderful people :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**SmackDown Taping**

 **March 18th**

 **Houston, Texas**

Possibly on RAW, The Shield had overstepped the boundary by triple power-bombing Kane.

But the corporate monster had put his hands on Bobbi and he'd _paid_ because of it. Nobody touched The Shield let alone _Bobbi Arlett_ and got away with it. Her tweet out that night had been ' _touch a hound and you get bit_ ', even if Dean had harassed her because of it ("What the hell are you doin'? Really, Arlett? Fuck, you of all people…).

And now she was stood ringside along Reigns as Ambrose and Rollins competed in a fatal four-way to determine the number-one contenders for the tag team titles.

The Shield had decimated everyone that opposed them in the match, had destroyed Ryback countless times, destroyed 3MB, were bound to destroy the Real American's some time in the near future — each of these teams were against The Shield. But The Shield, even though heavily outnumbered, were taking control.

First against Jinder Mahal, a submission technique, dropkick, clothesline. Then against Ryback. The duo's suicide dive out onto Rybaxel showcased their willingness to put their body's on the line, Seth yelling aggressively " _what's up!_ "

But soon, the numbers game caught up to them. Cesaro had swung Ambrose into the barricades harshly and then The Shield member was being dominated inside the squared circle.

Bobbi paced ringside with eyes that glared across at Heath Slater, the member of 3MB that wasn't in the match. There was a nail between her teeth that she chewed in anxiety and there wasn't a damn thing she could do. Not for Dean, anyway. The gears in her mind started shifting and she chanced a look at the Samoan next to her, lips pulling up in a smirk.

At one stage, Dean's lip had split open and his mouth was bloodied. And that was when Bobbi knew her plan needed to happen real soon.

So as soon as Dean managed to tag Rollins in, Bobbi was away from their corner and perching herself directly across from Slater, crouching in a subtle effort to remain hidden. And Seth took out _everyone_. He flew across the ring like a professional acrobat, landed on his feet, and if Roman was like a lion, Seth was a cheetah.

Slater's idea of slowing the cheetah down was wrapping an hand around his ankle as he rebounded off the ropes closest, and then Bobbi was running.

He turned just in time and her arm came around the back of his neck as she lifted herself into the air. Using the momentum of her sprint, Bobbi spun the both of them and planted a booted foot on the apron for more leverage, pulling Heath Slater down into a crushing DDT.

Bobbi didn't have time to look around and appreciate her handy-work, instead gazed into the ring and watched Seth hit the curb stomp— the smile on her lips grew as she realised they were about to win, but then the arena was shrouded in darkness with the sound of the Wyatt's theme. Five seconds maybe the lights were out. And when in came back on, Corporate Kane stood in front of her and the Wyatt Family were attacking the fatal four-way.

There was a flash of fear in her pale green eyes and his hand wrapped around her throat, but Bobbi flung a fist out and caught the side of his face in a decent right hand.

His eyes were _fire_ when he snapped his head back around to look at her and then his fist was sinking into Bobbi's stomach, right where her taped ribs were, and the breath was gone from her body in a pained cry. His fingers were back around her throat, her arm tossed over his shoulder, her body lifted into the air, and then she was slammed back to the padded mats of the ground in a thunderous choke-slam.

If she couldn't breathe before, she _definitely_ couldn't now. Gazing up at the lights, hearing the screaming voices, watching with a blurred vision as Kane walked away triumphantly.

"Was it worth it?"

It was Filipa. _Sister Abigail_.

"Was beating us worth it?" She laughed and drove a kick into Bobbi's ribs. "Does it feel like you're dying, Barbara? Like you can't breathe?"

Another kick, more pain radiating through her midsection, a cry of hurt.

Filipa sunk down over her body and pushed the hair out of her face, short hair almost tickling Bobbi's skin she was that close. "You're not gonna die, Barbara, not yet. I'm gonna take everything you love away from you and then I'm going to tear that pretty soul of yours apart until you're nothing but who I've made you."

She curled a hand under Bobbi's neck and pulled her up, then delivered a vicious looking Sister Abigail onto the padded floor.

And then everything was black.

It took a long time for any kind of consciousness to float into her brain. Was someone calling her name? It… it sounded fuzzy, like it was being yelled through a cushion, too far away, but it sounded so close at the same time. Sounded just like her name.

Bright light. A hand on her cheek. Rolled over onto her back.

"Bobbi?"

"Bobbi, I need you to squeeze my hand, okay?"

"Bobbi!"

All she wanted to do was flex her fingers, squeeze the hand around hers.

"Hey, hey, I felt that! Bobbi, sweetheart, do that again for me, yeah?"

But instead of focusing on her hand, all of her effort went into opening her eyes, sliding one open at a time to glance up at a fuzzy looking face above hers, hands now on her face. Blinking a couple of more times to focus lead to Dean's face slowly becoming clearer and clearer, Seth and Roman not far behind him. They weren't facing her. Were they keeping someone away?

"Hey, toots," Dean breathed as he curled a hand around her neck and pulled her up. "Took that hit pretty hard, yeah?"

Even to her own ears her voice sounded far away. "I didn't— get my hands up in time…"

There was a gentle smile on his face and his arm moved under her knees, lifting the silver-haired woman up into his arms effortlessly. The buzzing of the crowd became clearer and they were chanting ' _you sold out_ ' at the suited man standing some way behind Seth and Roman. The Wyatt Family were no where to be found.

When she looked closer, Kane's mouth was bloodied, his eyes cautious now and not even close to the way he'd looked at her just moments before.

Bobbi's head fell back against the solid wall of Dean's chest and he looked down at her with small grin. "Don't worry, I got you."

—

"Well, the good news is you don't have a concussion," Doc Kevin Pears said later on. "But the bad news is you need to rest. The reason you blacked out was because of the pain in your ribs. If we don't treat this properly, both your head and your ribs, you won't be competing at WrestleMania."

Filipa squeezed Bobbi's hand and she could feel the silent apology.

"So, I'm recommending to Vince that we pull you off the card for a couple of weeks—"

"No," Bobbi said immediately. "No, that can't happen."

Kevin looked at her sympathetically, shook his head. "I can't let you compete, Bobbi."

"Okay, then I won't compete, but don't take me off television! I can still do promos, I can still make this work. I _can't_ be off TV, but I can't miss WrestleMania, so just say that I can't compete. _Tell them_ that I can do it, do _not_ send me home. _Please_."

Eventually, Pears agreed. "Okay. Okay, fine. No strenuous exercise, no alcohol, no stress. I can give you some codeine—"

"No. No way."

"Okay," he murmured as he sent a confused look to Filipa. "No codeine. Aspirin will be fine then, just keep off the booze. And get to the arena early on Monday so I can give you another check-up, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay."

—

He liked having his hands near her neck. Maybe one against the side while his other arm was wrapped tight around her waist, pulling her body snug against his. Maybe a thumb pressing the underneath of her chin up for a better angle, feathering kisses along her jaw line and over the raised hairs on her skin. Maybe, even, gripping a knot in the hair at the nape of her neck to tug her head back.

He has this _infatuation_ with her neck. Just like she was obsessed with the sound of his voice. Or really, anything that came out of his mouth.

So it really wasn't that surprising when they both used this information against each other.

And lately, Dean's voice had been pushing her limits when she listened to him. Deep, husky. Staring at her with those slate blue eyes and a curve at his lips like he knew _exactly_ what he was doing to her. But if he wanted to tease her like that, she could tease back just as much.

Bobbi had only been back in her apartment for an hour before stripping off completely, opting to pull on a skimpy white lingerie set, the underwire of her bra giving her breasts an extra oomph.

Over the top she pulled a trench-coat of sorts, synched the waist in tight, added some white platforms.

She knew how to push his buttons. It wasn't going to waste.

A couple of minutes later saw the silver-haired woman letting herself into his apartment. "Dean?" she called out softly, smiling in success when she heard his grunt of response echo from the bedroom.

When she walked across the apartment floor and shimmied the coat from her shoulders, Bobbi made sure to check that he wasn't looking in her direction before positioning herself just under the doorframe. She jutted her hip out to the side, pulled the mess of curls over her shoulder to expose an area of her neck, leant against her elbow by the side of her head.

"Dean…" Bobbi almost purred.

He glanced over his shoulder and paused. Eyes widened slowly. And then she could see them darken. The man turned slowly where he was standing but her shaking head stopped him before he could walk to her.

"Why don't you sit down?" was her suggestion instead. With avid attention, Dean nodded and sat on the edge of the bed closest to her. He bent forward with his elbows pressing into his knees and fists at his mouth and Bobbi _knew_ she had him in the palm of her hand.

Trailing a hand across the plane of her stomach, inching it around her back, Bobbi flicked the clasp of the white bra open and let the material slide gently from her shoulders. She watched with a grin as Dean pulled a thumbnail between his teeth. Baiting him along further, she tilted her body to the other side and cupped her breasts with both hands and arched her neck back, eyes sliding close as her face angled towards the ceiling. Her lips parted. Dean groaned.

Bobbi's head fell back to face Dean now and her pale green eyes were teasing, and then she was walking towards him, throwing a leg over his and sinking onto a knee.

"What the hell are you doin' to me, Bob?" Dean breathed.

She just smirked and laced her fingers through his, brought them up to her breasts so that he was holding them now. His fingers massaged the soft skin and he bent forward and pressed his lips into the small space between her collarbones. "You like that?" Bobbi almost whispered in a sigh, smiling when his response was a small and satisfied grunt.

"Tell me what you're gonna do," she whispered again, "tell me how you're gonna fuck me."

She could feel his smile against her chest and her toes curled. Then gasped surprise when he hooked his fingers behind her knees and pulled her into a straddle.

"How I'm gonna fuck you?" Dean murmured into her skin, "Hard. So fuckin' hard I'll have you beggin' for mercy, toots."

Again Bobbi felt her toes curl and her stomach rolled deliciously at the promise in his voice. Dean stood then, lifted her effortlessly with him until her threw her back onto the bed with a grunt, stared down at her body with appreciation. He curved his fingers into the backs of her shoes and chucked them over the back of his head, pulled the shirt over his body. Bobbi watched the way his arms flexed and took a deep breath.

"No strenuous exercise, remember?"

His gaze was killer.

"Shoulda thought of that before you came in here dressed like that, then."

Dean fell onto the mattress and ghosted his lips across her legs, across her stomach, across her breasts, and then reached past her head to fist his hand in a pillow. Stuffing it under her hips made his intentions clear.

Reaching up with a hand and grabbing Bobbi's chin, Dean angled her head so that she was looking down at him and the curve on his lips sent the breath from her body in a rush. "I know I'm good," he murmured arrogantly, "but try not to scream."

His hands were gone from her face then and Bobbi pushed an elbow under her head to watch what he was doing, eyes darkening when his face lowered towards her hips. Whatever air was left in her body was gone when his teeth sunk into the inside of her thigh, his tongue skimming over the reddening area. Dean shimmed his body further down the bed and then twisted his fingers past the lace underwear. She lifted her legs to help get them off, but as soon as they were gone, Dean spread her knees so far apart the ache in her groin sent a wave of shock through her body.

A slight lick of his tongue at her inner thigh, another bite, moving his lips across to kiss the top of her folds. The breath in her throat caught as he sent a gentle lick up her folds, her hands fisting in the sheets above her head, legs shaking where he was holding them.

Slowly he began to picked up a slight rhythm— a light trace of the tongue up and down, his breath heavy on her skin. "This is my favourite place in the world," he hummed, "with you beneath me."

"Oh, my God," Bobbi groaned, her eyebrows pulling in. Heat was gathering at the base of her naval already and he hadn't even done anything worthy of that kind of response.

Dean pushed his face closer to her folds and trailed his open mouth along her skin until he reached her clit, pausing over the small bundle of nerves. And then he sucked it between his lips and the moan that sounded at the back of her throat was like sin. When he pulled back, he didn't give in. In fact, his tongue increased in pressure, increased in speed, side to side against her clit, chin pressing into her folds.

Almost twenty minutes later after a body-shaking orgasm, Dean crawled up her body and pressed his bruised looking lips to hers in a sensual kiss. She could taste herself on him and pulled away with a happy sigh, a complacent calm falling over her as Dean settled in beside her.

"You need a hand with that?" Bobbi pointed towards where he was pressing hard and heavy against her leg.

Dean pressed another kiss to the skin of her shoulder and shook his head. "No strenuous exercise, remember?"

"Hmmm," she hummed, "whatever you say."

—

 **RAW Live**

 **March 24th**

 **Brooklyn, New York**

Their movements through the crowd went unnoticed until the whispers started. And then they turned into rumblings, screams of excitement.

In the squared circle stood two of the men who had helped decimate them the week before. _Time for payback_.

The immediate resulting loss was because of the distraction that they had caused, and within seconds all four members of The Shield were over the barricade and stalking towards their prey. And within seconds, Ryback and Curtis Axel were down, Ryback falling victim to a triple power-bomb.

What made it even better was that Bobbi didn't even have to do anything. Her ribs were even more heavily strapped and her movements were slow, but she was still in the ring with her victorious hounds of justice.

As they reached the back, The Shield was shuffled into the filming office for a segment with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.

"Hey, guys," Hunter said easily, smiling in a greeting.

There was an uneasy silence that fell over the quartet. "Look," Seth started, "we know you saw what happened on Friday night between us, Kane and the Wyatt Family. So…. where were you, man?"

"Seeing as how Kane represents the Authority— and the Wyatt Family take out anyone that gets in your way, intentionally or not— we were just kinda wonderin', y'know, where do we stand…" Dean trailed off, looked at Triple H expectantly.

"You're wondering what—" Hunter broke off with a grin that read ' _you should know the answer to this'_. "What's going on between Kane, the Wyatt Family, and you? That's between _you_. Alright? Now, uh…"

Stephanie glanced up at him. "Well…"

"Go on."

"Kane is the Director of Operations but if it's vengeance you're looking for, well, how about we give you a match tonight? The Real Americans versus The Shield?" When she wasn't met with screams of disapproval, Stephanie nodded and continued. "Then we can all sit down together and discuss this. Okay?"

Beside her, Roman agreed. "Yeah. We will. Believe that."

But just as they were walking out of the room, a hand shot forward to grab Bobbi's arm.

"And, uh, Bobbi," Stephanie murmured softly, "hope you feel better soon. I heard those ribs weren't doing too great."

The smile Bobbi sent back was as fake as plastic.

Over an half an hour later, Bobbi was back at ringside supporting Ambrose and Rollins in a match against Cesaro and Jack Swagger.

Her eyes strayed to Dean as he paced haphazardly around the ring. She'd been on the receiving end of a _lot_ of heat over the fact that he'd shown some on-screen care for her, so much so that she'd been accused of being a ring-rat. What the footage had shown was the United States Champion hovering over her in distress and then carrying her outback — none of what had happened had even _looked_ like it was because they were a thing. Seth had reacted much the same way a couple of weeks ago, but… well, Dean Ambrose's fans were just like him. A little of the hinges.

The footage showed again on the tron to the right of her and she grimaced at the spaced-out look on her face, turning away completely and rubbing softly at her ribs.

As the Real American's walked out, Ambrose and Rollins were straight out and attacking the duo, not even waiting for the match up to start. And when it did start, well _fuck_ did Dean and Seth take control of the entire match.

Roman threw an arm around her shoulder, dropped a kiss on her head as she braced herself against the apron. "You right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're looking a little pale…"

She lifted her eyes to his face, shrugged his arm off. "I'm fine, Ro. Nothing I can't handle."

The match was continuing above both of their heads and by the time Bobbi really found herself concentrating, Ambrose was in a world of trouble. Was it nineteen times? Maybe twenty? Cesaro, the King of Swing, was spinning Dean around like a rag-doll, unceremoniously dropping him to the apron with a smug grin.

He was out on the floor then and after Ambrose's prone body, lifting it with the helping hand of Swagger to swing him once more into the padded barricades.

When he was back in the ring, Cesaro made a show of dominating Ambrose. But Dean's rally of offence… well, that was something that had Bobbi's toes curling. The Swiss Superman had slapped the side of Dean's neck, and Dean had just _laughed_ at him. Slapped his own cheeks. Cesaro hit him again. Dean yelled out and slapped the ground with the mat.

"That the best you got?!" He yelled, slapping his cheeks harder.

Cesaro slapped him again.

"This son o' bitch," Dean spat, suddenly finding the strength to stand on his legs.

Thrown back into the ropes with a harsh looking kick, Ambrose rebounded to deliver an even harsher looking clothesline.

Bobbi's face split in a smile, slapping her hands against the apron. "C'mon, Ambrose!"

The United States Champion jumped forward. Slammed his outstretched hand against Seth's. And then the match picked up in a style that suited The Shield. More specifically, a style that suited Seth Rollins.

Within a matter of minutes, one, two, three, The Shield had won.

* * *

 **sooooo, because i left you guys for a while with the last one, i thought i would do an update today :) ENJOY YOUR SUNDAYS GUYS, im already on a monday :(**

 **to Raquel the writer (** thank you! **) and quinzel harley (** happy that you've finally caught up! i literally wrote this whole thing while on the phone to you so... enjoy ;) **), thank you for your kind words, means the world to me!**

 **welcome to the new readers and old, and i hope you stick around for what i'm planning with the next couple of chapters; they're all really important!**


	24. Chapter 24

_It was dark._

 _There was a light flashing in her eyes, one side, the other._

 _"She conscious?"_

 _"Responsive."_

 _"Good."_

 _"I think you may have drugged her too much—"_

 _"No."_

 _Both male, one much deeper than the other. A cold hand pressed to her head. Caressed her cheek. She thought that she'd opened her eyes but the figures above her were dark and she came to realising that her lids were still shut._

 _A muscle in her hand twitched. Suddenly, his surrounded it._

 _"Barbara, love, you're awake," his voice was changing, moving from high pitched to low pitched in the space of a millisecond and her heart rate spiked. As if it weren't already pounding hard enough. "Open your eyes."_

 _But she had opened them… they were open, she was awake, his figure was leaning over her and she was rocking in a boat, back and forth, side to side, water surrounding her. Her eyes twitched to the side and she was thrown back into the room her body was in, lids still shut. Why wouldn't they open?_

 _Her stomach curled dangerously. But finally her eyes were open, she was gazing up at Nathan. But… his face was gone, replaced by another, then another._

 _So many people in the room but only one body._

 _A flash of light turned into a long streak of yellow and she followed the sight with her open eyes._

 _"Let's begin."_

 _Turning her head slowly to face the man in Nathan's body (because it wasn't Nathan, his face wasn't kind or soft, it was dark and pulled and breathing in the plastic bag pulled over its head)._

 _He was chanting above her, howling the words out into the ceiling, twisted colours falling from his mouth that turned ugly and sour._

 _A light radiated from her body and she looked down, realised she was entrenched in light, in white, in something beautiful and magnificent, but there were ties around her wrists and she couldn't move, couldn't even find the strength to test the bindings._

 _Nathan's body was still chanting above her but he paused, looked over his shoulder at the faceless ghost in the corner. "Turn her over."_

 _A glint on something sharp caught her eyes, the light streaking towards her, coming fast, and hands gripped at her. Why were they so harsh? What… what were they doing? Those weren't her arms and legs kicking out, no, she would never hurt these people— but they… they were hurting her._

 _"Please…" her voice sounded like the sea, "you're hurting me."_

 _Lines of red, more chanting._

 _"Unto you we sacrifice the flesh of the human so you can cleanse us of our sins—"_

 _The sound of his voice broke off when searing heat pressed into the skin of her back, and… that was the sound of her voice, screaming. It felt purple, like a bruise, like hurt, tears pricking at the back of her eyes._

 _They— they were hurting her, burning her skin alive—_

 _The room was all red, all purple, pain and hurt and anger and evil as Nathan stared down at her—_

"BOBBI!"

With a start, the silver-haired woman shot awake. Her heart was pounding, eyes swimming with tears, her entire body drenched in ice-cold sweat. Dean was hovering over her and his face was pale.

"Bob, you with me?"

Was she— her head was pounding. Yet she nodded quickly and turned her face into the pillow to let out a shaky breath.

Dean's arms were around her then, pulling her tightly in against his body. "Jesus, Bob, you were screaming so loud…" the man trailed off and pressed his lips against her head. "Scared me, toots."

"Sorry…" Bobbi croaked out. Her voice was scratchy, throat raw, and even if she couldn't remember screaming, those were the tell tales signs that she had been. "I didn't mean to, it just… happens."

He hushed her and flexed his arms, shook his head. "As long as you're okay now."

A shiver rushed through her spin almost immediately. Even curled into the warmth of his body, she was freezing cold and shaking. These nightmares? She would never be okay as long as they existed.

 **RAW Live**

 **March 31st**

 **Washington, DC**

The week leading up to WrestleMania. It was crazy, insane, something that had her head spinning in more ways than one.

When the assistant had run around that afternoon to give them the following weeks' details, Bobbi swore out-loud.

"You fuckin' kidding me?"

Filipa laughed at her, almost ripped the pink piece of paper from Bobbi's grip. "Day one interview, day two signing, day three signing and then flight to New York for a signing, flight back to New Jersey for the Hall of Fame— do you have a date for that yet?"

"Nope."

"Photo ops day four… then our match. What's so bad about that?!"

She sent Filipa a look of disbelief. "Seriously? Add in the thousand interviews I have to do, the fact that I have my _niece_ coming across on day one, _and_ I need to go dress shopping."

" _Ohhhhh_ ," her friend crowed, eyes suddenly lit in a fire. "You haven't got your dress yet?"

"Dude, I almost had my head caved in two weeks ago."

" _Bobbi_ …"

"It's fine, Pip, you weren't the one who punched me." She remembered the fire in Kane's eyes and shivered a little, took a deep breath. "Plus, I can handle your strength. I just couldn't get my hands up in time."

Still, even through her constant badgering that it was _not_ Filipa's fault, the dark haired woman felt immensely guilty with what had happened. SmackDown after RAW last week had just been Dean and Seth going up against 3MB, a clean win for her boys while she and Reigns had cheered them on. Afterwards, Kane had stood on the stage and declared a match between himself and Reigns for the following week's RAW.

"Plus, Peaches says I'm all good for action tomorrow night and then BOOM!" Bobbi yelled, splaying her hands out wide and smiling at her friend. "The match is mine."

"You wish, Arlett." Filipa paused. "Wait, did you just call Doc _Peaches?_ "

Bobbi rolled her eyes. "Dean forgot that his last name was Pears, just new it was some kind of fruit. A-la, Peaches. And oh, speaking of which, should we call some spots for it?"

Filipa twirled a short piece of hair around her finger and gazed out at the ring that was being set up. It had become a kind of tradition for Filipa and Bobbi to sit on the edge of the stage and watch the arena being set up. Something about watching people mill around made them feel comfortable.

"I dunno," Filipa drawled. "Street fight, no disqualifications, no count-out, can use whatever we want…." she trailed off and leant back against her arms. "Does it remind you of anything?"

"LSW," Bobbi replied with a giggle, "does it ever. Can you believe that was almost five years ago?"

"Remember that time you busted a plate over my head?"

"You punched me!"

She grinned. "You _deserved_ it."

The two fell into a comfortable silence and Bobbi watched closely as Hunter and Stephanie walked down the ramp and towards the ring, Daniel Bryan in tow.

"Dean told me you had one hell of a nightmare last week."

When she glanced back at Filipa, the woman wouldn't meet her eyes. She was worried because Dean was worried, and he'd gone out of his way to say something to someone who knew how to handle it from experience. "What'd he say?"

"Just that you almost screamed the building down," she murmured. Her face pulled in sympathy. "Look, Bob, I know that you don't like talking about it, but maybe you should. Like, to a professional. Or something. We don't get a lot of sleep as it is and nightmares on top of it? That shit's horrible."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

There was another long pause. "So, spots."

Bobbi had to suppress a chuckle at Filipa's obvious segue. "Let's figure that shit out."

"I'd let you girls talk about your match, but…"

At the sound of Hunter's voice, Bobbi turned around with a wide smile on her face. "What's up, boss-man?"

He rolled his eyes at the nickname. "We just need a photo of you done up for a large banner—"

"For Wrestlemania Axxess?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, fuck yes."

—

By the time the cameras were rolling and RAW was underway, Bobbi was ready to go in her wrestling gear, but instead of pulling the cropped leather vest on, she tugged a Hound of Justice shirt over her head, pulled the extra material into a knot at the side of her waist.

The area The Shield was standing in darkened, the stage hand giving them a go ahead sign.

"You know, honestly guys, I _almost_ feel bad for Kane. I mean, look at this!" Seth panned the camera across the dead-pan faces of his comrades. "It's like murderous row back here! At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who faces who. Kane's in a bad way. And if his new _buddies_ in cause, the Wyatt Family, wanna get involved… they're gonna find out why we call this," he held up a gloved fist, "the new symbol of excellence."

"The important thing to remember here," Ambrose continued, "is that we never disrespected Kane. Kane, and now the Wyatt Family, disrespected _us_. But they disrespected this," Dean too showed his fist for a second, "and what this represents, so tonight during Kane's match, we're gonna teach him all about _attitude_ and _respect_."

"So we're here to issue a challenge. When Roman here _beats_ Kane tonight, the Wyatt Family should come and hear for themselves just what lions den they've stepped into." Bobbi chuckled, shook her head. "Is siding with Kane gonna be worth it, Wyatts?"

Roman stepped forward. "Learn the lesson and spread the word. Tell _anyone_ that'll listen. The Shield is **_not_** to be messed with. Believe that. And believe in The Shield."

When Roman walked down by himself to face off against Kane, the three remaining members of The Shield were perched just behind the curtains of the normal entrance. And when Roman pulled a convincing victory, the crowd screamed as they walked out. Bobbi led the way, her lips curved in a smirk, precariously twirling a microphone in her hands.

"I said earlier tonight that _when_ Roman won, we'd stand in the middle of this ring and see whether the Wyatt Family had the _balls_ to come out and face us," she said. Bobbi climbed between the ropes and planted her feet next to Reigns. "Well, we're here. Where are you?"

Nothing happened. Bobbi's smirk was deeper. She walked past the twitching Ambrose, shared a look with Rollins. "You see, I know where you are. You're behind that curtain somewhere watchin' this, hearin' me talk. Hear this. WrestleMania is six days away. And we…" she motioned to the men now behind her, "have two _very_ simple demands. Your _swamp boys_ versus my hounds of justice in a tag-team match… and Bobbi Arlett versus Sister Abigail, one on one. No distractions, no men ringside. Just us."

The horrid sound of the Wyatt's arrival theme sounded throughout the arena and Bobbi froze on the spot, her eyes peeled. But they weren't coming down to the ring. They were up on the tron.

Filipa stood forefront, but the wide brimmed hat was pulled low over her face. "Barbara… what makes you think that we want to face _you_?"

"Well that's also quite simple, isn't it?" Bobbi laughed. "We're tied. At the moment, the Wyatt Family are at two, and The Shield are at two. Don't you ever wonder who the most dominant group is, Abby? You said to me two weeks ago that you were gonna take everything away from me, _mould_ me into a new person. Right now, I'm giving you that chance."

There was a hand on Filipa's shoulder and when she glanced up, Bray came into focus. He nodded. The woman's attention turned back to the camera. "A dance with the devil… we accept."

At this new information, the crowd cheered their approval.

"Oh, and by the way, Abigail," Bobbi chuckled again and leant on the ropes closest to the tron. "Our match? Well, since we couldn't finish the one we started at Elimination Chamber… at WrestleMania, we won't be counted out. We won't be disqualified. The only way to win is a one, two, three or a submission. Because our match? It's a street-fight."

—

They were sitting down in a quiet room, dressed in casual clothes, not really knowing what to expect until a camera crew walked through the doors and set up.

"Interview?" Roman asked hesitantly.

"We're just going to do a taping for SmackDown, make a promo with it," a guy holding a clipboard announced. "Camera's set up? Yeah? Good. So, guys. Talk to us about last years WrestleMania."

"Last years WrestleMania?" Dean shook his head, a small grin tugging at his lips. "How many times as a kid did you dream of bein' at WrestleMania? It was our first WrestleMania and we may only get one chance, it may be your _last_ WrestleMania.

"It's all I ever wanted to do," Seth said slowly. "To say that we were the underdogs in that match was quite the… _understatement_."

Roman shifted next to her. "To capture a _huge_ win like that in front of so many people… yeah, it's a chance to like immortalise yourself. To kind of capture something like that that _is_ timeless."

"Last year, we were like the 1980 Olympic US Hockey team, a bunch of nobodies. Goin' in, stickin' together with teamwork tryin' to win the gold and that's what we did. But this year? Jeez, we like the Yankees?" Dean paused, sent a confused look to Roman, shrugged. "The Lakers? We're _The Shield_."

"So tell us why you're here, then." The director asked.

"We got ambushed." Offered Seth. "That's something that doesn't happen to The Shield very often. Kane and the Wyatt Family, uh, some tricks up their sleeves, and we paid the price for not being any the wiser. But at the end of the day, they didn't get the job done. Cause we're still sittin' here, still talkin' about it. And WrestleMania is coming up and we're still walking, so. Those boys are in trouble."

"Never really been a fan of the Wyatts," Dean said with a smirk, "so it's gonna be great, y'know, to see 'em down in New Orleans, it's warm there, all year round."

Finally, Bobbi spoke up. "Turn the heat up, see how the swamp frogs go in a pan that's designed to destroy them. This is the best opportunity for The Shield to showcase exactly what we're made of… and we like it _hot_."

"We came in here, one goal in mind. Knock down doors, kick everybody out of the way, and run the show. They wanna stand in our way?" Seth shook his head, glanced across at Dean. "I don't care who they are, I don't care what kind of legacy they want to create. They gotta go. Kane, the Wyatt Family?"

"You're done." Roman snarled. "You just made the biggest mistake, Kane. 'Cause when we're finished with the Wyatt Family? It's you we're after. You can't break us. We'll bend. But we'll never break."

There was a long pause. Then, "great, you guys are good to go."

—

 _Wednesday, 3rd April_

Trying to figure out what to pack was always the hardest. Would it be warm? Cold? But now that it was WrestleMania week and she had more media appearances than she'd ever had before, she knew that all of her choices had to be considered 'safe'. Whatever the hell that meant.

Bobbi's first day, apart from a couple of interviews, was completely free. Which left the day open for little Vanessa. More than anything, she wanted to see the boys again. Roman, Seth, Dean. Cena, of course, and AJ, too. Heather had finally agreed to come down to New Orleans with her daughter for the first day of Axxess. Marcus was staying behind to look after Vanessa's new puppy and the plan was to take her to as many of the events as she could; Bobbi had asked for a quick pass to get them to the front of the lines without having to wait for hours.

She was staring at the clothes laid out on her bed when a knocking on the door started. And it didn't stop.

Agitated and slightly stressed, Bobbi flung the door open. "What?"

Filipa stood there with a giant grin on her face, more than a few black bags draped over her arm. She barged right in. "So because you love me and you trust my taste in everything fashion, I took the courtesy of buying a few refundable dresses—"

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

The woman now in Bobbi's bedroom paused. "What do you _think_ I'm doing here?!"

"That's why I'm fucking asking you."

"Barbara, I have dress bags in my arms and you're asking me what I'm doing here. Did you _forget_ about Hall of Fame on Saturday night?" Filipa deadpanned.

And _oh_. Okay. _Now_ she understood. "I was…" she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "I was gonna get a dress. Eventually."

"Eventually," Filipa mocked. "Yeah, okay. In the mean time, have a look at some of these while I go wash my face—"

"Uh, Pip—"

The younger woman flung the ensuite door open and stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide and staring at the stark naked Dean Ambrose in the shower. Bobbi again scratched her head and watched Filipa's gaze go from surprised to mortified in the space of seconds.

Without a word, Filipa swung the door shut.

"Pip—"

"I'll just— I'll, uh, go use the other bathroom."

Bobbi was torn between cackling and being embarrassed. Yet, she didn't really get the chance to figure it out before Dean popped his head around the corner, glistening wet hair falling across his face. "The fuck?"

She shrugged, but the cheeky grin falling across her lips had his dimples out in full force. "I don't think she knew that you were here."

"Yeah? What gives you that impression, toots?"

With a roll of her eyes, Bobbi stepped back over to where the three dress bags lay on her bed. "Get out of there so I can try them on, yeah?"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am," Dean shot back with a mock salute.

He tugged on pants and a button down top quickly and was out of the bathroom just as fast, muttering something about stealing some of her popcorn, and then she was in the bathroom and pulling on the first of the dresses.

It was navy, simple and elegant, hanging off the shoulders with spaghetti straps, hugging the shape of her waist and hips, and then falling seamlessly to the floor. It was nice… but not really something she'd wear to an event like the Hall of Fame.

The second was burgundy. The bodice was lace and tight, long sleeves running down her arms, skirt flaring out after her hips. And… well, _that_ was an immediate no.

The last, again, was navy. But instead of being one piece, the dress had been split into two. It's entirety was decorated in shimmery sequins. The top half was a halter neck, the back pulling into a racer-style with intricate detailing. The bottom hugged the shape of her hips and then fell to the floor. It was _perfect_. Something that was her, something that was different.

"I'm gonna need another fucking shower."

Bobbi gazed over her shoulder. Dean's eyes were firmly on her ass and she couldn't help but grin a little, shimmy her hips. "Look good?"

"Horribly."

He placed the bowl of popcorn down on the counter and spun her, wrapped his arms around her waist before pulling her into a slow kiss.

"It would look much better if you just went naked," he murmured against her lips. She could feel the cheeky smile on his face as he curved his fingers under the waist band of the dress, cupping her ass softly. "But I like this one, 'cause I could do this all night and no one would know."

"So—" the sound of Filipa's voice broke off and there was a groan. Then, " ** _Really?!_** "

This time, Bobbi _did_ laugh. She shifted her face away from Dean and lifted her eyebrows. "You _really_ shoulda let me know you were comin' Pip, could've saved you from all of this."

Bobbi paused. Licked her bottom lip, gazed at the container of popcorn. Then turned to Dean with a pinched face. "Why the fuck did you put kimchi ramen with your popcorn?!"

* * *

 **heeeey! back with another update :) so the nightmare ISN'T irrelevant to the progression of the story and you'll figure that out soon, and this is more of a filler chapter than anything in the lead up to the next three... i don't think you guys know where i'm going with this, but it's getting dark soon, so be prepared. (aka, i'm a sadistic writer when it comes to my OCs)**

 **to my wonderful reviewers, Raquel the writer (** literally my thoughts while writing this ENTIRE thing, tbh **), quinzel harley (** you da bomb diggity, hun :) **), and calwitch (** definitely should be more careful, damn that silly Kane who punched her too hard! thanks for sticking around :) **), thank you so much for the kind words!**

 **onto the next chapter we go!**


	25. Chapter 25

_Thursday Morning, April 4th_

Bobbi was stood at the airport as inconspicuously as she could. There was a cap tugged low over her eyes, sunglasses on, hair tied back in a low bun that hid the black ends. A light dark blue jumper covered most of her tattoo and on her thighs were ripped light blue jeans, camel Timberlands on her feet.

As usual, Bobbi heard Vanessa before she saw the young girl. As she was laughing, a ball of orange launched right into her legs and wrapped around her ecstatically, wide grin on the young child's face as she looked up at her Aunty.

"Hey kiddo, how you doing?"

"Good!"

Bobbi laughed at her niece and bent down to give the girl a hug, lifting Vanessa up onto her hip when she was done. "Ooooh, you're gettin' so big!" she teased, and Vanessa just poked her tongue out.

"Now, where's your mother?"

"I'm here."

With a smile, Bobbi looked over her shoulder to the young mother. She stepped up to give the woman a half-hug and then motioned to the carousel. "You guys got suitcases?"

"Just this," Heather said, motioning to the carry-on.

Bobbi nodded in approval. "Good. Let's get out of here, chicken."

The young girl in Bobbi's arms beamed brightly.

Thirty minutes later and they were at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Vanessa had the VIP lanyard securely around her neck and was swinging off Bobbi's arm, eyes wide at the amount of people and the amount of wrestling memorabilia to look at.

From behind her, Heather grabbed Bobbi's shoulder. "I'm going to go grab a coffee and let you two girls enjoy yourself for a while, maybe have a look around."

"Sure," she smiled back.

Bobbi pulled Vanessa back up into her arms and smiled, wriggling her eyebrows at the child. "Looks like it's just you and me, kid."

" _Yes_ ," Vanessa hissed happily.

She laughed at her niece and started to walk them through the massive hallway, glancing up at the banners that hung from the ceiling. Vanessa merrily pointed out her favourite superstars, motioning to the John Cena and Bray Wyatt one, even the Daniel Bryan one.

"Who's gonna win the title, Ness?"

"Daniel," she said confidently.

Moments later, the young girl inhaled a deep breath. "Aunty Bob— _that's you!_ "

Vanessa was pointing up at one of the last banners. It was indeed Bobbi, all brooding and menacing save for the deep smirk etched into her face. "Yeah, that's me."

"I want that…" she murmured in awe.

"I'll see what I can do for you," Bobbi laughed at her.

Slowly but surely, the two made their way through the memories, the Undertaker inspired graveyard, the giant posters of the different superstars, and when Bobbi spotted a certain Samoan up on one of the signing stages, she pointed it out to Vanessa.

" _Please?_ " Vanessa begged her, " _Pleeeaaase_ , Aunty Barbara, I _really_ wanna go see him again!"

And how could she say no to that?

Bobbi made a bee-line towards where he was sitting and lifted the cap away from her face, smiling at the waiting guards and flashing both her and Vanessa's VIP passes. They gave Bobbi a knowing smile before cutting the moving line off momentarily.

And when she set Vanessa on the ground, the little girl launched up the stairs. "Roman!" she screeched, and the big Samoan only just turned in time to catch her.

Bobbi couldn't help but take a quick photo on her phone.

"Ness! Hey, baby-girl, what's happenin'?"

As the two conversed, Bobbi peered over her shoulder at the mumbling line behind her. Soon, one by one, the voices were echoing in a different kind of way— they recognised who she was. The cheers started then and the woman threw a little wave over her shoulder, blew a kiss.

"… and then I told them that Aunty Bobbi would send you to beat them off and they ran away from me!" Vanessa was saying as Bobbi turned back around.

Roman laughed at his friend's niece and shared a smile with the woman. "Maybe when I get off signing, you and Bobbi can come find me out the back, yeah?" He motioned to all the people waiting in line. "I'm sure these people wanna say hi, too."

The girl went red in the face.

"C'mon, sweetheart," Bobbi laughed as she reached over the table to gather Vanessa into her arms. She sent a wink to Roman. "Thanks, Ro."

Bobbi sent another wave over her shoulder to the gathered crowd and left the same way she came in, pulling the cap low over her head again.

Not thirty minutes later, the same situation was unfolding with a different Shield member. Seth laughed at the happiness radiating from the young child and then they were off moving again, Bobbi taking a few photos here and there of her beautiful niece.

—

What seemed like hours later, Bobbi was sitting in a closed off section of the convention centre that was only meant for the attractions of that day. But, considering she was one of the company's top stars at the current moment, they couldn't really say no to her.

It hadn't really sunk in that people liked her as much as they did. And didn't really consider herself to be one of WWE's top talents, but if she could pull numbers like she'd been told she had at the Elimination Chamber, then who was she to argue that? Plus, it plastered one hell of a smile on her face that lasted almost all day.

There was a warm cup of coffee in her hands and a sleepy Vanessa hanging off of her like a monkey, but she wasn't complaining.

"Look at this bundle of cuteness," a voice behind her said.

She didn't recognise the male voice and when Bobbi gazed over her shoulder, didn't recognise the man as a talent or stage hand, either.

The man seemed to notice Bobbi's blank gaze. "Sorry. I'm Jack, I do interviews for a podcast and for a blog. I'm not sure whether Hunter mentioned to you—"

"No, no, he did." The realisation dawned on her. Bobbi took a sip of her coffee and then smiled. "Sorry, I just kinda blanked for a moment there."

"Oh, that's fine!" he gushed. "That's fine, it must be a busy week for you."

"Definitely."

Jack grinned across at her then. "Yours?"

 _Huh?_ Bobbi looked down at the snoozing child and almost laughed out loud, shook her head. "No, no, I'm good friends with her mother and she's a WWE fan, so I thought I'd just show her around for the day."

"Looks like she's having a blast…"

Bobbi laughed again. "Been a tiring morning."

"I bet! I'll try and make this quick…" he set up a tape recorder and pulled out a piece of paper, looking at the dash of questions he'd obviously scribbled down. "So— let's start where it began. You got signed to NXT in early 2013, yeah?"

"Yeah," Bobbi affirmed. "January, actually. I'd been doing indie circuits for almost seven years, really had to give it everything I had for people to take me seriously, y'know? Women in the circuits have a notorious reputation, but I just wanted to get out there and wrestle. So when I got the call from John Laurinitis, God, I didn't look back."

"And how was your time down in the developmental brand?"

"Great! I was able to train with people who took me seriously and kind of hone my skills, and I was only down there for seven months before they threw me up on the main roster."

Jack hummed, his eyes widening. "That's right, you did a one-month stint on NXT televised events, right?"

"Yeah. They gave me a character and told me to roll with it an I did, through some attitude behind it and _boom_ , ticks with all the right people."

"Tell me about the day you received the news that you were joining The Shield."

All those months ago… it felt like it had been years. But she'd only been up on the main brand for seven months. "Uh… I got a call from Stephanie McMahon that she and Vince would like to sit down and have a chat with me about my future. She sounded really happy and I kinda knew right then that I'd be going up, but I was still shocked because of the short amount of time I'd been in developmental. Stephanie told me that she and her father were big fans of mine and loved watching my performances, and one thing lead to another, and she told me I'd be joining The Shield."

"What was that like?"

"God," Bobbi laughed. "I felt like everything in the world was right. It felt amazing. They called me in a couple of days later and introduced me to the guys, and we just hit it off."

"Good, that's good to hear," he was nodding his head and smiling. "So you get up onto the roster, you get massive heat because of your 'heel' status, you match up to the boys— was that your idea, or Vince's?"

"Both, kinda. It was a lot easier for me back then to stand up to the guys because I wasn't, y'know, stick thin and I had a lot of muscle. The Big Show and I got along really well and he kind of spun this idea that I'd be the biggest pain in his ass, and somehow the chemistry and the hatred was there, and it just worked."

"So what's the hardest hit you've taken?"

"Ooooh," Bobbi drawled out, trying to think back to when she was hurting worse than other times. "Dunno. The Knock Out Punch was pretty bad, but so was running into that pole and splitting my head open. Come to think of it, getting my ribs done a few weeks ago didn't feel that great, either."

"They okay now? You'll be good for WrestleMania?"

She raised a shoulder. "Let's hope."

Jack's eyes widened and shifted over her shoulder, and when Bobbi looked in the same direction, a grin fell across her lips.

"Dean Ambrose!" he called out happily. "No better man to interrupt an interview."

"You're not harassing my favourite, are you?" Dean muttered as he ruffled Bobbi's hair.

"Not at all."

Vanessa shifted on her lap, but when Bobbi looked down, the young child was still fast asleep. "Want me to take her?" he asked softly.

She sent him an appreciative smile. "Please."

When two of her favourite people were gone from the vicinity, Bobbi turned back to the interviewer. "How we going?"

"Couple more questions, but let's just drift away from your work for the moment." His eyes brightened and he smiled widely at her. "It's _WrestleMania Axxess!_ What are you _most_ looking forward to?"

"Hmm," Bobbi hummed. "I was walking through the Undertaker's graveyard earlier, so that was pretty cool. And I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of the NXT matches! Should be a few of those that will have people talking."

"For sure! What about a match that you're looking forward to?"

Again, Bobbi thought for a moment— then, she chuckled. "Would it be narcissistic of me to say the Wyatt Family and The Shield?"

"I think _everyone_ is looking forward to that match-up!"

"Yeah, definitely. Other than that, I'm excited to see what happens with the Tag Team titles and, of course, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship."

"Who's your pick to win those?"

"Daniel Bryan, hands down. I mean, the odds are stacked against him, but… the odds have been stacked against him his whole life. So, he'll pull through and win, no doubt about it. For the Tag titles, I gotta say the Usos. They've been really impressive as of late, and I hope they make it happen on the big stage."

"And tell me— how are you feeling about your _very first_ WrestleMania?"

Bobbi laughed in disbelief. "Honestly, I can't believe it's happening. All those years, all the sweat and blood and tears, like… it's all been so I could get into this business. Am I nervous? Hell yeah! Am I gonna kick ass? Hell yeah."

Jack smiled at her and folded the paper in half, folded his arms across the desk and stared at her. "Now, before we finish, I want you to look ahead, ten years from now, twenty years from now. What have you achieved in the WWE?"

"Wow," she breathed. "What a question. I— I imagine a few championship runs, not specifically confined to the Diva's Championship, but maybe I'll petition for a WWE Women's Championship revival. Who knows, this company is always changing. But— one thing, I guess, it to co-main event a WrestleMania, I guess. It's unrealistic of me to imagine that I'll be main eventing against a WWE World Heavyweight Title match, but a co-main event? Maybe a WWE Bantamweight Championship match? Dunno, man, but you put any kind of title in my hands and I'll make people wish they came to every show."

—

It was late Thursday afternoon and Vanessa was back to tearing the place up, dashing between superstars and creating laughter everywhere she went. They were still out the back, but Dean had returned with the young girl in tow, fairy floss in one hand and a bag of merch in the other.

"Whaaat?!" Dean drawled when Bobbi shot him a look. "D'you know how _hard_ it is to say no to that child?"

And, well, he had a point.

She didn't really know how long Roman and Seth were planning on staying out on the floor for, but neither of them had shown their faces and Heather was supposed to be back sometime soon as well.

In the mean time? God, Vanessa was bouncing between John Cena, her, Ambrose, and AJ Lee and Tamina, who had almost appeared out of no where.

"C'mon kid," Bobbi called out finally, "lets go for a walk."

Vanessa ran up to her and clasped her hands around Bobbi's, the bundle of red-headed energy more than happy to be moving. "Where're we going, Aunty Bob?"

"Away from these poor people," Bobbi commented with a smirk.

The bubble of laughter was almost infectious.

But when they made it through doors and to the chaos of Axxess and Bobbi's phone started ringing, she had to pause mid-step. "Hang on, Ness, lemme get this."

The screen was flashing with her brother's name and for a second she hesitated, looked down at Vanessa. But she still answered. "Hey, what's up?"

"So, because I was good with my rehab and haven't touched alcohol since you beat me up, I thought I'd treat myself to a little something," Craig said down the line. She could barely hear him over the noise, but his voice was still there.

"Oh?"

"And guess where I am?"

"I don't know, Hawaii? Australia?"

"I'm at Axxess, Bob."

Time seemed to still. The breath in her throat caught and suddenly everything was just… blank.

"Bob? You there?"

Bobbi glanced up, looked around. Her grip on Vanessa's hand tightened and the young girl looked up at her anxiously. "What do you mean you're here, Craig?"

"I mean exactly that," he laughed. "I've come to support my sister at WrestleMania! I thought you'd be happy to see me, y'know, since I got everything sorted and I'm on my medicine and my doctor said I'm almost back to normal—"

"No, no, it's good that you're here! I just…" Bobbi looked around desperately for Heather. Where was she? She was supposed to be here, to pick her kid up. "Where are you?"

"Right… next to you…"

Her stomach dropped. When Bobbi turned around, his eyes were locked on the small child she'd pushed behind her leg. Oh, _fuck_. Fuck. _Fuck_. Heather was going to kill her.

"Barbara," Craig murmured, frown creasing his face. "I… who's that?"

While Vanessa had her mother's orange ringlets, she had her father's striking blue eyes. And almost immediately Bobbi knew that he could see himself in the little girl. She sucked in a deep breath and glanced around again, eyes searching for a pop of orange.

"Barbara, answer me…"

Bobbi drew a hand down her face, but suddenly there was a hand at her back. "Want me to take her?"

She gazed over her shoulder at the large Samoan, her face the picture of relief. "Please."

"C'mon, little one," Roman said as he ducked down to lift the young girl onto his hip. "We'll go get you some ice cream."

Vanessa squealed happily and Bobbi watched them walk away before turning back to her brother. Who was still staring at her like he'd been slapped.

"Is that Heather's kid?" Craig questioned. "Is that _my_ kid?"

"I— I can't do this here," Bobbi muttered as she apologetically looked at her younger brother. "Come on, let's go and do this talk somewhere else, yeah?"

Craig nodded slowly, his eyebrows furrowed, and Bobbi placed a gentle hand at his back to guide him towards a less crowded area. He looked numb. He didn't look like he was about to hit something, which was almost a God send, but Bobbi pushed back through the doors to the backstage area and dragged a hand down her face.

Dean immediately glanced up from where he was sitting and his eyes widened as he took in the sight of her brother and Bobbi's pale face.

 _This was going to be fun._

—

Bobbi had called Heather right away. The woman looked just as pale as Bobbi felt when she laid her eyes on the somber looking Arlett sibling, but he was just sitting with his head between his hands.

Dean had been stroking her back the entire time as she watched the interactions take place between her brother and the mother of her niece.

"I just— I just need time to process this…" Craig had breathed, excusing himself from the messy situation quietly.

He'd been good about it. In fact, he'd been more that good about it. He listened to Bobbi and Heather and had replied evenly, had told Heather that he understood why she did it, but had wished that she hadn't kept it from him for so long. He'd asked about Vanessa, what she was like, how she was going at school, whether she took after him at all. And he'd also told Heather about his recovery, his turn from alcohol altogether and his new outlook on life. She seemed impressed with him, not scared like Bobbi had anticipated.

And now she sat with Dean, her head thrown back over his shoulder.

"Coulda gone a lot worse," he reasoned with her.

"I know," Bobbi chuckled. "I'm proud of him. I mean, it was wrong of Heather to not at least tell him, but he understood why. So… I'm proud of him."

"You should be."

—

 _Saturday, April 6th_

The next day was more of a blur for Bobbi than anything else. She'd said goodbye to Vanessa the previous day and watched Heather and Craig set up a tentative contact line, where Heather would slowly introduce the little girl's father into her life.

She met her assistant on Friday morning for her eight to ten signing, couldn't feel her wrist after that. Every single person, even the creepy looking people, put a smile on Bobbi's face— because each of them had lined up specifically to see her. She got a lot of good luck wishes, a bandaid from a small kid to use if her ribs got sore again, a rose from an enamoured fan. She'd laughed at the amount of cheers when Dean came to relieve her of her duties.

The rest of her Friday had been interviews that went much like the first one, questions about her and her past before moving onto the present and what she was most looking forward to.

Stephanie and Hunter had advised the interviewers that her personal life was off limits, thank God.

On Saturday morning, much like the previous morning, she was back up on the stands for another signing. However sitting next to her was a very large Samoan, and this time, the queue up was even longer. And she wasn't the only one that got gifts, this time.

The three hour flight to New York landed around lunch time, and the entire stable was sped from the airport to the stadium for a group signing that took another two hours.

By the time Bobbi was back in the air and flying back to New Orleans, she was _exceptionally_ grateful that Vince had been kind enough to rent out a private jet for their use. Bobbi had the Hall of Fame to get ready for and she would have felt _exceptionally_ awkward sitting in economy doing her makeup for everyone to see.

"Okay," Roman laughed loudly. "What the _fuck_ is all of that?"

Bobbi groaned and looked up at him. "Makeup, you ass-wipe."

"She's puttin' foundation on," Seth called out easily, glancing over his shoulder to wear she sat. "Make her skin look smooth." At Roman's surprised look, Seth raised a shoulder. "Leighla's a makeup artist, it's hard not to pick that kinda shit up when she's doing it all the time."

"Point," Roman called back.

"Now, once you're done with the foundation, you wanna set it with some setting powder, make sure it's not too shiny," Bobbi commentated as she brushed the powder over her face. "Too much and you look fake, too little and you shine like a diamond."

Dean cackled. "Shine bright like a diamond—"

"Shut the fuck up, bro, I don't need that song in my head."

Bobbi laughed at Seth's outburst. "Next, you go for the lips. Since the focus is going to be on the outfit and the eyes, you wanna go for a subtle shade, like a nude or a dark pink," she paused as she looked at the base of the lipliner, "so for the lipliner, I'm going with a shade of the Nude Plum."

"Okay, we get the idea," Roman laughed. He looked around the almost empty cabin and sighed at the suit hanging up on the far wall. "We're going straight to it, right?"

"Yep," came Seth's reply. "If I'm already in my suit, you can go put yours on as well."

"It's so tight and—"

"Put it on, you oaf of a man."

Roman sucked in a breath and looked at Seth in mock hurt. " _Oaf?_ You're breaking my heart, dude."

Bobbi let out a chuckle as she slid the plum looking gloss across her lips. Her eyes were next, a refined smokey look with a gradient between light grey and a shimmery navy that was almost black.

"I swear I'm actually going to jump out of this plane if you two don't shut up," Dean murmured from where he was trying to get some rest.

And so the bickering between Seth and Roman became louder.

Two hours later saw Bobbi's silver and black hair hanging in loose curls, the dress fitting snug on her body. Dean was sitting across from her with eyes that wouldn't leave her body, but he was all nice and spunky in his navy suit, camel coloured shoes and all. Seth had harassed him for weeks about finding a pair of shoes that matched the navy— Dean just didn't care.

"What are you lookin' at?" Bobbi asked him softly, a grin playing on her face.

He smiled a dimpled grin back at her. "You. You look beautiful."

She blushed at his compliment, but the moment was ruined when both Seth and Roman cooed at them.

The night was going to be exhausting, but at least she could sleep in for most of the morning.

Because tomorrow was WrestleMania.

And, oh _fuck_ , that set off more nerves in her stomach than anything else did.

* * *

 **this was supposed to be hella long, but again, i can't write filler chapters for the life of me. however with that being said, some OC developments! cute moments between Bobbi and Vanessa, Craig finding out about his daughter, Dean being a saint, Roman and Seth being shits (but really, what's new there?)**

 **to my wonderful reviewers; Raquel the writer (** maybe ten chapters ago, I threw in LSW as Lake Side War - it's a wrestling company that Filipa and Bobbi were both at (and it also doesn't exist in real life, so it works :) ) **), calwitch** (if the nightmare was weird for you to read, then you can only imagine how weird it was for me to write it! i had to redo it a few times, was too creeped out by it the first time around. sorry that I don't really go into the Hall of Fame!) **, quinzel harley** (you predicted just right! some Vanessa, some group stuff, and one HELL of a WrestleMania match coming up that i just finished writing :O), **and T** (thanks for the separate reviews, lovely! unfortunately, i'll be sticking to their demise, but i DO want to put my own twist on it... heh. definitely a yes to the summaries on each! much happy! and dude, Nathan is BAAAD juju. that's coming up in the next few chapters as well... so much to happen, so little time. hope i answered the interview one a little here, too! glad that you're caught up, but make sure you keep up with your school work lovely ;)!) **... thank you all so much for the kind words, I love talking to ALL of you!**

 **hope you enjoyed this, and fingers crossed that the next instalment is out in a couple of days... adios, my favourites xx**


	26. Chapter 26

She stood in front of the mirror, glancing nervously at her torso. Dean had redone the strapping for her earlier that morning, a tight nude underlay that compressed her ribs and a white overlay that kept everything in place.

Part of her wanted to wrestle with it on, part of her didn't want to wrestle with it on.

There was a quick rapture of knuckles at the door and when Bobbi opened it, an equally nervous looking Filipa was staring back at her.

"You ready for this?" she asked softly.

Bobbi snorted. "Fuck, no."

Both women were dressed in corporate looking clothes and Filipa's hair was pinned back neatly.

"We're leaving in ten to go to the stadium," Bobbi murmured as she threw herself down on the bed. "Time to meet our entrance buddies, go over our spots one last time—"

"You sure you wanna do ropes?"

It would be difficult and painful, but the rope spot was _much_ easier to anticipate than some of the others they had talked about. "Of course. It'll be fine, smack talk me, be a bitch, anything you want, really."

Even though it was still six hours until the event, nerves were already shifting under Bobbi's skin like she was about to go out, and she realised with a deep breath that until she stood in the crowd, the pounding of her heart wouldn't stop. When Bobbi glanced across at her friend, she was messing around on her phone.

The twitter account had been more troublesome than helpful, recently. The notifications had been turned off in the first day.

But still, now that Filipa had reminded her, Bobbi slipped her phone out and tapped out a simple tweet that read ' _my first WrestleMania— Sister Abigail's last WrestleMania. #ArlettvsAbigail #WM30_ '.

Hours passed and they shifted from the hotel to the stadium effortlessly.

Her boys were warming up by running the stairs and timing themselves, but that was more a tactic to pass time than anything else.

Soon enough, WrestleMania 30 was underway.

 **WRESTLEMANIA**

 **Sister Abigail vs Bobbi Arlett**

 **No Disqualification Match**

 **WrestleMania**

"The following is a _No Disqualifications_ match where the _only_ way to beat your opponent is by pin-fall or submission."

" _Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta; Shield_."

Instead of their theme, a marching band drumbeat echoed through the massive stadium. The audience glanced around, obviously searching for the silver-haired woman, but instead fell silent as they locked their eyes onto the two rows of uniformed men walking through the crowd and towards the ring. Like all members of The Shield, these men wore black.

One by one, they stopped as they came closer to the squared circle, and eventually, the pathway was clear.

The sound of the drum was quickly replaced with The Shield's theme song and Bobbi emerged from the crowd to the sound of raucous applause. Shivers cascaded down her arms and she lifted her chin, jumped on the spot a little, shook out her arms. Pale green eyes were cold as ice.

Starting her walk to the barricades, Bobbi couldn't help the grin that crossed her lips. It was one thing to have a WrestleMania match. It was another thing to have a specialised entrance, a guard.

Bobbi vaulted over the barricade when she got there and slid into the ring, looking over her shoulder to just catch the last of the uniformed guards leaving.

"Introducing first the challenger, from Chicago, Illinois, and representing The Shield— _Bobbi Arlett!_ " Lilian said.

When she glanced down the walkway to the massive tron, there was fog billowing along the floor, curling over like slow motion waves.

"And her opponent, representing The Wyatt Family— _Sister Abigail!_ "

The deep bass of the theme song reverberated through the ground, sitting right in Bobbi's chest, and the stadium was thrown into darkness. And then Filipa was walking out from under the tron. Holding onto her hands looked to be to young kids, faces covered with white sheep masks, hands holding up lamps, and the three moved through the white fog like they were almost floating.

Underneath the metallic dress was an all white attire. Ironic in the way that to Bray, she was his angel, but to everyone else? She may as well have been the devil incarnate.

Maybe the kids were there to get under Bobbi's skin, maybe they were a good luck charm — either way, the caution that flashed in those pale green eyes and the way she'd stopped moving showed that she didn't like it.

Filipa set the two kids up on opposite barricades and kissed each on the crown of their head. The woman walked forwards and effortlessly slipped between the white ropes.

Lights flooded back on.

As the two stood across from each other, the hairs on Bobbi's arm raised.

"I'm going to take everything from you," Filipa laughed loudly. "I'm going to take your freedom and the reason you fight—"

"And _I'm_ going to rip that tongue from your mouth!" Bobbi yelled back. "Let's see who can get there first, huh?"

The few people close enough to the ring to hear their exchange ' _ooh_ 'd at the fiery remark.

Somehow, beyond the noise and the cheers, beyond everything else, Bobbi could hear the words tumbling out of Michael Cole's mouth. " _And for these women, it's not just about who is the most dominant— remember, Sister Abigail sidelined Bobbi Arlett for over two weeks and could have possibly ended her wrestling career. For Bobbi, this match is a chance for her to serve out some of the punishment she's received since their match at Elimination Chamber._ "

The referee pacing between them raised his hand and looked towards the time-keepers area. The bell went. The match started.

But the two women just stared at each other. Filipa stood stock still and Bobbi was swaying her weight from one foot to the other, rolling her wrists, face lowered and lips pulling in a smirk.

This was exactly where she'd wanted this woman for the past month. And she wasn't going to waste her opportunity.

With the smirk on her face cutting deeper into her cheeks, Bobbi slid between the ropes and pulled up the apron, eyes immediately locking onto the bamboo stick. When she flung the apron down, Filipa was still where she'd been moments before— except now there was a steel chair in her hand.

Still, Bobbi slipped into the ring.

"How do you wanna do this, Abby?!" The Shield member called. "Your choice!"

"Drop the kendo stick," she replied, "let's see how good you are."

"Better than you."

When Filipa let the chair slide from her finger tips, held her arms out wide, Bobbi assessed the bamboo in her hands. Twirled it in the air a little. The crowd were screaming for her to do something.

Tossing the stick from the ring, Bobbi dashed forward and crash tackled Filipa to the ground. She was on top and then she was under, but her fists were in the brown hair and shaking as hard as she could, and then they were out of the ring as Bobbi landed harshly on her side. Filipa yelled out and dragged the silver-haired woman to her feet, but that was a mistake. Bobbi locked an arm around the back of her neck and interlocked her fingers, then drove a knee into the woman's midsection.

She went for the move a second time. Except Filipa caught her leg with one arm and used her own to sweep Bobbi's out from under her, and then she was on her back again.

It wasn't pretty or wrestling, but it was gritty and garnered reactions from everyone.

Bobbi locked a leg around Filipa's waist and twisted their weight until she was back on top, and then she drove fist after fist into the woman's face. Pale green eyes widened when blood sprouted from a cut on the woman's lip.

Immediately she backed away. But there was a curve to her lips that was dangerous.

Without anymore hesitation, Bobbi scooped her hands under Filipa's body and lifted her, only to throw her back into the barricades. The black wall shifted back with the impact and as Filipa fell away, the silver haired woman launched onto the half-wall, throwing her arms out wide, trying to get the crowd involved.

But as Bobbi jumped off the barricade and found her footing, she realised that her momentary loss of focus had cost her _big_ time— Filipa, though still hurt, had wrapped her hands around a chair and drove the head of it right into Bobbi's midsection. A cry of pain fell from her mouth as she keeled over and red hot burning erupted from her ribs. But then the chair was slamming down onto her back. Bobbi screamed out again and arched her torso as she fell to her knees.

Filipa chucked the equaliser away, dragged the hurting woman over to the announce desk, spun and launched Bobbi into it stomach first. She knew that the piercing cry would've been heard globally. Because _fuck_ that lit a new pain along her ribs, and for a long second, she didn't think she'd be able to get back up.

"You good?"

The woman was hovering over her and to most it would have seemed like some trash talking, but the words were barely a whisper.

And Bobbi's answer was to ram an elbow back into her face.

Filipa toppled to the padded floor and held a hand to her nose, wiped away the rest of the drying blood along her lip. She stared across at the grimacing Bobbi. The grin that picked up the corner of her lips was completely her.

Finding her feet, Filipa managed to toss both of them back into the ring, setting Bobbi up for the Sister Abigail finisher. Bobbi's ribs screamed in pain and she groaned loudly, but then her head was being slammed into the apron, her leg held in the air.

 _One_. _Two_. Kick-out, barely.

The scream of frustration was loud and Filipa rocked back onto her ass, eyes wide as she looked at the barely moving woman in front of her, and using what strength she had left in her arms to lift onto her knees, Bobbi stared across at Filipa who had hands over her mouth. She smirked.

"Can't kill what won't die," Bobbi threw out into the space between them. "You can't kill me, Abby."

"I'm going to take everything from you."

Bobbi laughed. "Never gonna happen."

The two women launched at each other again, spinning and twisting and throwing punches, but before they reached the end of the apron, Filipa disentangled from Bobbi and drew her up across the ropes, one woman on either side. Bobbi's hands were tight around Filipa's neck but the woman was smiling and then she lifted a leg, slammed her foot into Bobbi's chest. The silver-haired woman flew back and off the apron, her back landing on the barricades harshly.

The Shield member crumpled to the floor almost lifeless.

Deep breaths, in and out, laboured gasps, Bobbi stayed on the floor and tried to calm her heart-rate down, tried to slow her breathing, tried to block the pain out.

Somehow Filipa managed to lift the silver-haired woman onto the turnbuckles, her back towards the ring. Her legs hooked under the metal connector and then a foot was slamming into the side of her head. Bobbi let out a cry and fell backwards, hanging upside down, and looked up with a dazed expression as Filipa pulled herself up to the top, standing over her triumphantly.

" _Believe in The Shield_ ," the woman mocked, "believe in _death_."

Filipa jumped off the turnbuckle and brought her knees into her chest and then pressed down, her feet landing on Bobbi's chest harshly.

There was another cry of pain as Bobbi crashed unceremoniously to the canvas. Her torso was throbbing in pain and she barely managed to kick out of a cover, but she didn't even have a chance to suck a breath into her lungs before Filipa dragged her up.

"You want to survive?!" Filipa slapped her right across the face and in a flash of silver and black hair, Bobbi was back on the mat. "Let me _break_ you! Let me _rebirth_ you!"

She was back up and tossed against the ropes, arms over the top, and Filipa bent over her, tugged the middle rope up. Within seconds, Bobbi was caught between the two ropes, the burning against her arms real and painful as she struggled. She cried out and kicked her legs up, anything to break the hold, but the ropes would never snap away from the poles, and she was trapped.

Across from her, the woman's grin was almost one of awe; she realised where she had Bobbi and that she could do anything she wanted.

Reaching forwards with hesitant hands, Filipa held Bobbi's face between her hands. It was almost a moment of silence that followed the caressing gesture. But when Bobbi arched her feet off the ground to kick at her with a snarl, the Wyatt Family member just nailed a boot to her thigh, knocked her back down.

"Go on," Bobbi yelled, "do your worst!"

The look that flashed across Filipa's face almost made Bobbi regret her word choice.

The woman backed away from Bobbi and then turned, glancing across at one of the kids who was still sitting on the barricade. "Thomas," she called, "bring it to me."

Bobbi struggled against the ropes even more. They bit into her skin and she knew it would sting in the morning, possibly even bruise, but she needed to get out.

When the young child jumped off the barricade and slipped under the ring, Bobbi could no longer see anything. But when he re-emerged with a chain in his hand… the colour drained from her face. The audience booed as the child handed the chain to Filipa and she dropped another kiss onto his head.

She _had_ to get out.

Looking frantically over her shoulder, Bobbi wrapped her fingers around the middle rope and pushed herself off the ground, flipped her body over the top rope and followed the rope down as it slipped from her arms. She landed on the ground with a thud and pushed through the pain, gazing up at the chain-swinging woman in the ring.

The welts around both of her arms had missing skin but weren't bloodied, thankfully. And when Filipa slipped out of the ring to follow Bobbi's retreating figure, the latter ducked to the ground to curl her hands around the discarded kendo stick.

What the woman behind her didn't expect was for Bobbi to spin and sink her new found weapon into her stomach. Filipa gasped in pain and dropped the chain, clutching at her torso. With a sliver of her back now exposed, Bobbi slammed the bamboo down, again and again until welts that almost matched her own were spread along her back and the backs of her arms. She screamed as she threw the stick away and then drove her boot into the side of Filipa's head in an aggressive kick. The woman crumpled to the floor.

Bobbi laughed at the writhing woman below her. "You screwed with the _wrong_ family."

Twisting a hand into the short hair and her shorts, Bobbi rolled Filipa into the squared circle, rested a hand at the apron to brace herself, an arm around her ribs.

She glanced around.

On the floor laid the metal chain that Filipa had planned to attack her with. Discarded, abandoned, lying there and not doing anything. A grin pulled at her lips. Again, she looked up at the crowd. They were chanting for her, cheering her name, wanting her to win.

Bending over with a grimace and picking the chain off the floor, Bobbi then slipped into the ring and stomped on Filipa as hard as she could to keep the woman down for as long as possible. She fell to a knee, looped the metal chain around an ankle, tugged it until she knew that it wouldn't come loose. A grimace twisted on her face as she stood and then she moved to stand in front of Filipa. Lowered her head, caught the woman's eyes with a smug little grin.

"Go on," she murmured, "Get up, you piece of shit."

Filipa dragged the back of her hand across a bloodied lip. She gazed over her shoulder at the chain around her leg and grinned, looked back at Bobbi. But still, she shifted to her arms and pushed up onto her knees, held her arms open wide in that almost iconic pose.

Bobbi's fingers tightened around the chain, her face morphing from smug to mad in the space of a second. "I told you to get up you **_piece of crap!_** "

So the woman crawled slowly to her feet and immediately Bobbi tugged at the chain, Filipa flying onto her back harshly, head rebounding off the mat. The chain dislodged and Bobbi grabbed at her ribs as she ripped the metal away and tossed it from the ring.

Again she stood over the limp body and held her hands out in a mocking gesture. "Didn't you promise to remake me, _Abby_? Didn't you promise that you would take everything away from me?"

She curled her arm around the back of the woman's neck and slung her across a hip, and Bobbi stared out into the mass of people that were suddenly chanting ' _this is awesome_ '. They knew exactly what she was about to do.

Bobbi spun in the air and drove Filipa's head into the canvas, delivering a flawless looking Sister Abigail to the woman who played the character.

Cheers floated around her and Bobbi looked down at the motionless woman. Then slipped out of the squared circle and flung the apron up, pulled a table from underneath the ring and pushed it onto the canvas. Now the cheers were even louder.

She pulled Filipa up and grabbed her thigh, wrapped an arm around her back, lifted the woman up and then slung her back down onto the ground in a sit-out wheelbarrow facebuster. Bobbi climbed to her feet without even going for the pin and set the table up in the corner, and sweat dripped from her chin onto the skin of her breast.

Since her boys weren't here to help Bobbi finish off the job, she took matters into her own hands.

Picking Filipa up from the ground and shoving her head between black-clad thighs, Bobbi rolled the woman up and onto her shoulders and then threw her down onto the table in a power-bomb, breaking the wood in half with the impact.

When Bobbi finally made the cover, one, two, three… she'd won.

The Shield had won.

But her night wasn't over.

As Bobbi laid in the ring, facing the ceiling of the stadium above her while letting her theme crash down on her, taking deep breaths to try and get her heart rate back under control, soft rumblings started. And then the noise became louder.

Because, from almost out of no where, to the sound of anxious screaming, a dark shadow loomed across her face.

 _Kane?_

 _No, no— no, this wasn't supposed to happen— why was he out there?!_

Bobbi's face twisted in fear and she spun away, but her ribs were done for and then a hand was curling through her hair and pulling her up.

Her ears were ringing with the jeering crowd. As Kane spun her and wrapped a hand around her throat, she was surprised to find that his eyes seemed at least a little human. And before she could stop herself, words were toppling out of her mouth. "What the _fuck_ is going on?!"

The corner of his mouth pulled up. "Developments."

When Bobbi hit the mat in a crushing choke-slam, the breath was gone from her lungs.

* * *

 **hope the fight was as good as i thought it was while writing, weeee OH ALSO HOW SNAZZY ARE THEIR ENTRANCES**

 **to my lovely reviewers; _Raquel the writer_** (Bobbi's hair is a reverse ombre - silver at the top and down to a black at the ends) **, and _quinzel harley_ ** (hope this lives up to your expectations, my love) **, thank you for reviewing.**

 **let me know what you guys think, much love :***


	27. Chapter 27

**RAW Live**

 **April 7th**

 **New Orleans, Louisiana**

 _Developments?!_

God, Kane was so full of shit it actually made her feel physically ill. When she'd gotten backstage, Stephanie had come up to her straight away to say that the choke-slam had been sanctioned and that she had every right to be mad. Bobbi had known that it was Kane's idea, because without prompt, when her boys were going one on one against the Wyatt boys, Kane had done the same thing to them. His idea was to be a thorn in their side one last time before they went on to feud with the big dogs and left him in the dust.

The segment they had backstage had played the angle that it had been Hunter's call originally to take them down a notch.

Kane had stood across from them and lost his cool and Bobbi and Roman had stood back with matching expressions on their face. _Triple H had sanctioned their destruction?_ Tonight, when they went out to support Triple H in his title match against the newly crowned WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan… well, they'd respond to the news then.

The moment she stepped into the spotlight of the stadium, shivers fell down her spine.

Across the lower half of Bobbi's face was a black and white mesh mask that resembled the skeleton mouth of a hound. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a messy pony tail, cropped leather vest falling open across her chest, thickly heeled boots boosting her height once more.

In the ring was a fallen Daniel Bryan. Triple H stood over him, Stephanie close to the announcers table. Kane, Orton and Batista were prowling ringside— they'd really done a number on the champion.

But none of that mattered.

Because Kane had attacked them per the orders of Triple H. And if he wanted to try and put the hounds down, he'd get attacked.

Bobbi flung herself over the barricade and stood stock still as she stared between the ropes at The Game. Pale green's burnt with rage and he held his hand out at her like _do not start this war_ , but he'd started it long before she'd wanted to finish it.

"We are _not_ breaking this down into a war!"

Daniel Bryan in the corner trying to recover, Bobbi slipped the mask from her face and pulled herself up onto the apron, rolled her shoulders as Triple H went back and forth between the two separate entities, trying desperately to calm them down. Her boys were right at her side but her eyes never left The Game.

She slipped between the ropes and cracked her neck out to the side, tilting her chin up. He wanted to get rid of them? Not a fucking chance in hell.

Without any warning, Bobbi dashed forwards and planted a booted foot on his hip, pushed herself up and swung her other leg around, catching Triple H so hard in the side of his head with an adapted enzuigiri that he fell limp to the floor. In that moment, Seth took on Randy, Roman took on Kane, Dean went after Batista.

And soon enough, the ring was clear.

Save for the barely moving COO of the company.

As Triple H pulled himself up onto his feet, he realised that he was surrounded on all sides by the Hounds of Justice. And when Bobbi moved away from one of the far corners, the recovered Daniel Bryan launched at him and landed a flawless looking running knee.

Their affiliation with the Authority? It was shattered.

The Shield were on their own.

 **—**

It was a Wednesday night and Filipa was sleeping in the guest room and she couldn't find Dean. He wasn't in her apartment, he wasn't in his own, there wasn't even a note for her and he hadn't sent her a text message.

So she went with her next best option.

"Hey buttercup, what's happenin'?" Roman asked as he answered the phone.

"Can't find Dean," Bobbi breathed out. "Where would he go on a Wednesday night?"

There was silence down the line and for a second she thought that maybe he hadn't heard her. But then he was talking. "You can't find him?"

"Nope."

"I, uhhhh," the Samoan hesitated, "you guys aren't _together_ together, right?"

" _What?_ "

"You know, a _thing_. I, uh, know you guys are like, fuck buddies— or, I dunno, that's what he's says you call it, but like— you guys aren't exclusive—"

Bobbi was already seeing red. "Where is he, Roman?"

"Uhhhh," he was still hesitating, like he _knew_ she wouldn't like the answer. "The club. Down the street a little. Red lights, pounding music—"

He was right— she _didn't_ like the answer. "I'll message you when we get back."

The call ended and then she was pulling his apartment door open with so much force it almost flew off the hinges.

She knew that they weren't together and that he had every right to do whatever he wanted, but if he blew her off to get drunk _alone_ , that wasn't okay. And unconcealed jealously was coursing through her veins because she also knew that if he was at the club getting drunk, there was a _very_ high chance that he'd bring a woman back into his apartment. The only woman that belonged in his bed was _her_.

Like hell on wheels and with a dark look to her eyes, Bobbi launched from the building and sauntered down the street towards where she knew the club was.

When she nodded at the security guard, he let her through, and right away her eyes locked on the fluffy haired dirty blonde. Bobbi didn't hesitate as she stalked over to him but as he looked at her, as the woman looked at her, her blood turned ice.

Dean's eyes were blood shot, his laugh rumbling out of his mouth like he couldn't control it, like it was something he couldn't hold down. The beer bottle was in one hand and the brunette was perched across his lap and Bobbi almost snapped, almost grabbed the beer from his hand and emptied the contents over his head. But she didn't.

"Go."

The brunette looked at Bobbi like she was joking. Fire shifted under her skin and she laid her hands down on the table so she was close enough to the woman's face that she could smell the alcohol. "You leave now or I shove my fist so far down your throat you won't talk for the rest of your life."

And _that_ had the woman moving.

"What the fuck?" He spat at her, trying to raise to his feet but falling back against the couch pathetically. "Fuckin' cock block, you bitch."

Bobbi glanced back at the inebriated man in front of her. In that moment he was nothing more than the alcohol that was coursing through his veins and the rage that was buried deep in his gut.

"Damn right, that's what I am," she muttered back at him.

Grabbing the jacket that was tossed over the back of his chair and knotting her hands in his top, Bobbi dragged her could-be boyfriend to his feet, fingers curling around his wrist tightly. She looked back at him just as he looked over his shoulder and sent a kiss towards the woman she'd caught him with.

Thankfully, their building wasn't too far from the bar where they were, and Bobbi effortlessly moved one booted foot in front of the other as Dean stumbled haphazardly behind her.

There was a camera flash to the left of them and she raised her head a little higher, ground her jaw together.

"Where the fuck—" Dean hiccuped and giggled, "where the fuck are we goin', Bob?"

"Back home."

"Good, you can fuckin' suck me off then."

Her eyes almost rolled back into her head. But unlike usual, the tone in his voice wasn't teasing or cheeky; he was stating it like it was his God given right to get what he was asking for.

Without any other incidents, Bobbi managed to drag him through the lobby of their apartment building and sighed in relief when he made it through the elevators doors without tripping over his own feet.

But as soon as the doors closed, Dean was on her, pressing his mouth sloppily against her neck and trying to find any kind of bare skin he could. She didn't even have time to react as his hands moved under her shirt or slipped around the back of her thigh to sink his fingers into the flesh of her ass. Bobbi was aware then that he wouldn't stop and pushed him back as harshly as she could.

Her jaw was locked in anger as he gazed at her in rage, fluffy hair falling across his face. "The fuck, Bob? Fuckin'—"

Dean launched forwards again and his hands were rougher as he grabbed at her, and this time the disgruntled noise that fell out of Bobbi's mouth as she tried to fight him off was something that had him laughing against her mouth.

"Don't fight it, we both know how bad you want me—"

"Stop—"

His tongue cut off Bobbi's words and she shoved against him again, but as he moved back, he took her with him, flinging them around so she was pressed to the opposite wall. His hands moved from her hips, one grabbing her wrist, the other curling around her throat and pressing harshly, and Bobbi choked back a gasp as he held her against the wall. Immediately her hand tried to pry his away.

Dean laughed at her attempts and pressed his thigh between hers. "You like it when I push you around? When I choke you?"

Face next to hers then, he dragged the flat surface of his tongue up the side Bobbi's cheek, his breath hot against her ear, and part of her almost wanted to throw up because of the rancid alcoholic smell that radiated from his mouth.

Even though her fingers were clawing at the ones around her neck, even though Dean was drunk as hell, he was still with it enough to not completely strangle her. Yet when he crushed his mouth back against Bobbi's it was like he was drinking the breath from her body. The smug look on his face when he pulled away with her bottom lip between his teeth, when his blue eyes were clouded with lust— she yanked her head to the left just to get her face away from him. But Dean just laughed at her. And it wasn't his 'this is funny' laugh, it was his 'I'm gonna get what I want' laugh.

He pushed his thigh up to rub it against her but her face didn't change, eyes so close to being on fire that she could barely hold her rage in. "If you don't get the fuck off me I'm going to punch you."

His laughter echoed through the small space again.

And Bobbi drove her fist right into his mouth, felt his nose crunch under her knuckles, and Dean fell to the elevator floor with a hand trying to catch the blood trickling across his mouth.

"You fuckin' _bitch!_ " He yelled, eyes so full with rage that Bobbi was afraid for a second.

Jesus Christ… even though it was just a moment, she'd been _afraid_ of him. Bobbi had heard of it, had been ready for it a long time ago, but not now, not while he was emotionally gone as well. This was the part of himself that he tried to hide, the reason he'd never get smashed around her. He was volatile, like a different person, like he'd lost himself, and it reminded her of how he'd seemed when he'd called himself Moxley.

"Get up," Bobbi muttered as the elevator doors opened, walking towards her apartment without even checking that he was behind her. "Try not to be noisy, Filipa's asleep."

But he followed her and threw himself down on the couch, throwing his arms across his face. Bobbi shut the door with a sigh and walked into the kitchen. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, slid the lock screen open, taped in a name before pressing the call button and holding it to her ear.

Roman answered almost instantly. "D'you find him?"

"Yep," Bobbi breathed, pulling a glass from the cupboard next to the sink. "Shitfaced with some hag draped across his lap."

"Fuck, Bobbi…"

"Why's he like this, Ro? What's made him like this?"

"Did he get a call or anything? From anyone in Cincinnati?"

"Dunno, Ro, I just went up to his apartment and he wasn't there, didn't leave a note or anything."

There was silence on the other end for a moment before Roman hummed. "Whatever it is, don't ask him about it until he's sober. He's not really the nicest—"

"Oh yeah, I know."

"Fuck. What'd he do?"

"Doesn't matter, he stopped when I punched him in the nose."

"Alright, fuck this, I'll be there in four hours. Think you can handle him 'til then?"

Bobbi glanced over the kitchen counter at the man who was humming on her couch, inspecting the blood he was wiping from his chin. "Should be fine."

"See you soon."

"Yeah."

Gently laying her phone down on the counter and filling the glass with water, the woman slowly made her way towards the unpredictable Dean. She held the glass in front of his face, said "drink this," and walked towards the linen closet when he took it from her without question.

Bobbi wet the small hand towel, walked back towards him, sat next to his bouncing knee. She inched her finger under his chin to turn his face to her but stopped short when his clouded blue eyes locked onto her pale greens.

Any hope she had that he was back to some form of normalcy was shattered.

"Fuckin' turn your nose up like you're too good for me," he laughed as he pushed her hand away. "Like you could _never_ possibly stoop so low to some'un like me, fuckin' princess and pretty eyes and killer body that you could sell and you think you're too fucking good for me?"

"Dean—"

His fingers pulled at his hair but he was laughing again. "Think that I don't know what you did all those years ago, fuckin' put out for men who could fuckin' care less, just wanted you because you're fuckin' sex on legs, walk around like you own the God-damned world and that no one could ever fuckin' touch you…" Dean trailed off and tilted his head back as a dangerous smirk fell across his lips. "Whore of a mother shot up like it was second nature and everyone took something from me when she was alive, and now she's dead and it's my turn to take, so why don't you fuckin' bend over like the slut you are and just let me _fuckin' fuck you._ "

Like the words hadn't bothered her, she sat still. Couldn't remember the last time someone had insulted her so freely, so willingly, couldn't remember the last time someone had refused her help. If that was how he wanted to treat her, in her own home? _Fine_. She stared across at the man, fire shifting like blood in her veins, hungry, craving his pain, and the look in her eyes went from placid to possessed in the space of a second, she knew that much.

Dean's eyes flashed when he saw the change and he raised a hand, lurched forwards, teeth baring, but held back at the last second.

"You wanna hit me?" Bobbi said. She shoved his chest, threw her arms out. "If you wanna hit me, Dean, fuckin' stop pissing around and get it the fuck over with or get the _fuck_ out of my apartment while I'm _trying_ to help you."

"I don't want to hit you, I just want to _fuck_ you."

"Yeah, well you're not really in the greatest situation to be demanding sex from me right now, so shut the fuck up and let me clean your face."

He fell silent at her words and collapsed back against the couch. Let Bobbi do her thing as she cleaned up his face, gentle prodding around his red nose. She stood up once she was finished and walked back to the kitchen, looked at the red water as she washed the cloth off, watched it swirl deliciously down the drain and then sighed, dragged a hand down her face. Half of the things that he'd just said to her shifted like led through her mind and Bobbi dropped into a crouch, pressed her head against the cool cupboard door just to try and empty her mind.

God, he was a fucking mess.

And he'd scared her. The way he'd looked at her back in the elevator… it didn't remind her of Nathan, because Nathan had never looked at her in anger, always in a weird kind of curiosity, but it reminded her of the fear she'd felt when she was with him.

She spun on the tiles and slumped to the ground, pulled her knees up to her chest.

She couldn't freak out now, she couldn't have a panic attack with the state he was in, she couldn't let herself be seen as vulnerable when he could easily take advantage of her.

 _Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out_ , Bobbi's eyes were screwed shut and her breaths turned quickly from deep heaves to something more manageable, pressed her thumbs into the bone of her eye-sockets, twisted her fingers together. _In, out. In, out. In, out_. One breath at a time, Bobbi regained control of her thoughts, pushed the haunting images of his face from her mind.

"The fuck are you doin' down there?"

Bobbi glanced up at the man who had the empty glass handing precariously from his fingertips. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at her.

"Not right now, please," she pushed out with a breath, "whatever the fuck you're about to do, it can wait."

But he didn't listen to her, all but picked her up and walked them both towards the couch. Dean put her down gently and flung himself length-ways next to her, kicking his legs up as he rocked back on his ass and laid his head on top of her lap. Curled his legs to his chest and turned to nose against her stomach, his fingers twisting in her shirt.

She didn't know what to do, whether to laugh from his sudden swing in moods or smile because of the sudden endearment she felt for him, whether to shove him off of her because he'd been so rude or just… she just didn't know.

So instead she curved her fingers through the soft tousles of his dirty blonde hair and gently massaged his scalp. Her eyes filled with tears and all she wanted to do was cry.

But she couldn't.

And so she stayed exactly where she was with hiccuped breaths and the reason sleeping on her.

—

Bobbi knew Roman was at the door before he knocked and dislodged herself from the couch, gently placed a pillow under Dean's head as quickly as she could. She swung the door open and watched the tentative sweep Roman's eyes did of her figure and then without any warning she was in his arms.

His show of affection shouldn't have hit her like it did. Because very suddenly there were tears streaming down her cheeks again and she was heaving into his shoulder, trying to suck air into her lungs.

But it wouldn't come. Roman was rubbing circles between her shoulder blades and whispering into her hair as he held her.

"C'mon baby girl," were his words, "c'mon, let it all out."

"I can't— I can't—"

Bobbi hiccuped in another breath and sobbed harder. She'd compared him to the worst man that had ever been in her life, she'd compared just a part of him to all of Nathan, she'd compared the best thing that had ever walked into her life to someone that had _tortured_ people for fun. What was she doing? Why was she so ready to remember the worst?

But then… he'd been out of control. And she'd handled it. He pushed her and she pushed back as usual.

He'd never talked to her like that before, never called her a slut or used her past to try and get under her skin.

Slowly Bobbi's breathing returned to some sort of steady pace and she patted the Samoan's shoulders, pushed away from him gently.

"Thank you," she whispered. "If you could look after him, I just need to…"

"I got it, baby girl."

Bobbi nodded, stepped back and retreated to her room. She pulled out a suitcase and stuffed it with as many of her clothes as she could, walked into the bedroom and packed all her toiletries up. She needed to get out, to leave, to get away from this apartment and the man who was still sleeping on her couch and suddenly her mind shifted to Filipa — the woman who was probably still fast asleep in the guest room. Roman would explain it. She couldn't stay.

When she wheeled the packed bag back out into the main room, Roman looked up from Dean. "Where you gonna go, Bob?"

"Doesn't matter."

Glancing one last time at Dean, she watched his eyes slowly slide open. The Ohioan pulled a hand across his mouth and gazed up at her groggily. He mouthed her name and with a tug of her heart, she turned and walked out the door.

 _Where was she going to go?_

Out of Vegas.

Who could she trust?

It seemed a life time ago, but Brie Bella had found Bobbi in the locker rooms one day in October last year, saw the frustration, offered a helping hand. She hadn't taken it then. But now, she felt that Brie was the only one who would give her a place to rest her head without judgement.

She pressed the call button.

"Hello?" The Bella twin answered.

"Hey, Brie, it's uh— it's Bobbi."

"Oh, hey Bobbi! How are you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," Bobbi trailed off and sighed. "You remember that day last year when you told me I could, uh, I dunno, count on you? For advice and shit?"

Brie hummed in recognition. "Yeah, of course! Something the matter?"

 _Something, alright._ "Listen, I can't stay in Vegas, not right now, and I don't want to put you out or anything, but I was kinda hoping for a place to stay for the next couple of nights—"

"Bobbi, you can come down here whenever you want. I'll set the spare bed up, why don't you book your flight and then text me the details?"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

Ten hours later saw Bobbi pulling her suitcase off the carousel. Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible had worked, and thankfully when she was outside she could cover her puffy eyes with sunglasses again. God, she had been a sobbing mess for most of the plane ride and trying to stifle the noise was useless and pathetic.

The cab ride didn't take that long. Soon enough, they were off the main roads and pulling through suburban backstreets, turning off onto a large piece of property that screamed the farm life.

She hadn't even gotten out of the car before Brie was out the door. And Bobbi didn't need to say a word when Brie wrapped her up in the tightest hug she'd had in a long time.

"C'mon, sweetie," she murmured softly, pulling her into the large house. "Why don't you sit down on the couch and I'll make you some tea?"

Bobbi did just that.

Their dog was adorable. Josie, if Bobbi remembered correctly.

Pulling the warm Frenchie up onto her lap, Bobbi cooed, scratched her belly while she cuddled the dog to her chest.

"I told Daniel you were coming, so he's gone out to get some food for dinner. Usually we'd use the garden, but we don't really have enough for three, and I wanted to cook something that we can have for leftovers next week," Brie babbled as she tried to fill the silence. "Also, I can show you the room to put your stuff in and I've put towels and new sheets on the bed."

"Thank you, Brie," Bobbi murmured quietly, sending the woman a genuine smile.

The Bella twin looked at her for a long time before speaking again. "Can I ask something?"

"Yeah."

"This is about Dean, isn't it?"

On their own accord, Bobbi's eyes slid shut when she heard his name. "Yeah."

"I'm flattered that you trust me enough to stay here, but why didn't you…" Brie trailed off, but Bobbi knew exactly where she was going.

"Go and stay with Filipa?"

"Yeah…"

She shrugged and looked back down at Josie. "She practically lives in my apartment, I just needed to get out of Vegas and away from him."

Somehow Bobbi managed to last the rest of the night without really having to discuss too much. She stayed inside as much as she could, but by the time Friday morning rolled around and when she couldn't sleep, she was out the front door. Daniel had noticed her agitation, had told her that if she needed to get some frustration out, there was a stump from a cut down tree and an axe and some smaller blocks of wood for her to cut in half.

Intricate swirls of pink and blue and clouds painted the sky above her head and Bobbi paused, sucked in a deep breath.

Pulling on the gloves around her fingers and strapping the velcro tight, Bobbi placed the first bit of wood upright and lifted the axe. _Hard and fast, hard and fast_. She desperately needed to get a least a _little_ bit of frustration out. So when she swung down as hard as she could, the block of wood split easy down the middle. It wasn't long until she was working up a steady rhythm as well as a sweat, and the light t-shirt she had on was off straight away, left her standing in a sports bra and some cotton shorts.

But she realised with a start that she wasn't the only one out in the cool air of the morning.

Daniel Bryan was leaning against the door frame and watching her with a careful glint in his eyes, but there was a soft grin on his lips and she knew right away that he meant her no distress.

"Critiquing my form?" Bobbi said through the silence.

"It's good," he replied, smiling. "But, uh… that's not really what I'm out here for."

Bobbi eyed the cup of coffee in his hands and threw the axe back down onto the stump, ripping the gloves off and walking across to the landing. She didn't say anything as she accepted the mug.

"Look," he started softly. "Brie told me that you were here because of something Dean did, and I can't help but… I know you two are really close, so anyway I can help, just let me know. I've known him longer than most guys in the locker room."

Sat on the steps of the porch with knees pulled up to her chest, the silver-haired woman took a long sip of the warm coffee. "He just lost it. Drunk off his face, was like he was back to being Moxley. I didn't know how to handle it and I thought some pretty horrible stuff about him and I just— got really upset with myself. For the way I reacted. And I needed to get away, clear my head for a bit."

He nodded at her words. "You know, I've never seen Dean act the way he acts around _you_. I know more of the gritty, dirtier details than you could possibly imagine, but that's not my place to say. Personally, he's got a lot of baggage. All up in his head," he tapped his temple for emphasis. "So sometimes when he gets lost in there, it translates to the way he acts. And I _know_ that he's been blowing up your phone since you've been here, and that's big. If he apologises, that's a big deal to him. Ask him how you can handle it next time or just knock him out."

The bearded man had a point. She'd known that a blow up had been coming for a while, just didn't anticipate it to be so… _real_.

But it wasn't Dean that had been messaging her. Granted, he'd sent her a text (one that read _I'm sorry_ ), but the person who had been trying to get into contact with her had been Bray. Filipa must've told him about what happened. Bobbi didn't want to talk to him.

"Thanks, Daniel."

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN. what's going to happen? will things get better or worse for bobbi and dean?**

 **to my wonderful reviewers; Raquel the writer** (yes, i completely agree with this statement!) **, quinzel harley** (thankyooooouuu! that means the world to me, you have no idea :) ) **, and calwitch** (no retiring just yet - at the moment, her ribs are under control and she's got something a little more important on her mind) **, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me and tell me what you think!**

 **thank you to new readers and to old, hope you enjoyed this! xx**


	28. Chapter 28

Having to dance around Dean was probably the weirdest she'd felt in a long time. Something was— something was off, something had dislodged in their relationship. He wouldn't look at her, wouldn't speak to her unless it was necessary. Sometimes his eyes were full of guilt, like he'd remembered what he'd said and done. Conversation was awkward.

She didn't know where she stood with him anymore.

It was a strange experience.

Bobbi's feet were kicked up on the table in a back room and she was staring off into the distance, fiddling with a rip in her jeans when a pale Brit walked through the door.

Her eyes met Bobbi's and she did a double take, stepped back, held a hand out. "Sorry, I— I didn't realise you were in here."

"All good," Bobbi smiled at her. "You're Paige, right? Just up from developmental?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I am!"

"Good job on winning the title last week, it's an amazing opportunity."

Paige smiled brightly at the silver haired woman and stepped back into the room. "You mind if I just chill in here for a bit? It's so busy out there and I need to memorise my lines."

She shook her head and watched as the young woman sat across from her and flipped open the RAW schedule, her eyes skimming what she was supposed to be saying.

"Promo?" Bobbi asked softly.

"Yeah," Paige nodded. She paused and gazed up at the silver-haired woman. "Say… your promos are amazing. Dusty's taught me so much with mic work, but… it's like you're not even speaking from lines, like they just let you have free reign over what you say."

Raising a shoulder, Bobbi said, "they let me say what I want because they know they can trust me. I'm good at speaking what comes to mind and playing up who I am in the ring, so it works for everyone."

The room descended back into silence and Bobbi clicked the top of her phone, checked the time, then clicked it off. She did it a couple more times, watching Dean and Vanessa's goofy faces fade away and then reappear. _What was she going to do with him?_

Everything in her screamed to just _ask_ him what the fuck had happened, but she didn't want to overstep the boundary. She knew exactly what it felt like to have someone pry into her life. And maybe he remembered or maybe he didn't— but she'd walked out on him to cope with her own feelings and maybe he needed the same space to cope with his.

Bobbi stood and raised her arms above her head, let out a long groan at the pain that flared through her torso. She'd been stupid while chopping blocks of wood a couple of days ago and was now suffering the consequences; while her ribs had been on the mend, they were back to being in horrible shape. Bobbi could barely suck a deep breath of air in without the pain erupting, but the x-rays had come back with no fractured or broken bones. Just heavy bruising that spanned across her skin in ugly yellow splotches.

Leaving the room without a word, Bobbi slowly made her way towards catering.

Being in the company for almost nine months now had really cemented her ability to be nice to almost everyone that was on the roster. A few were horrible to her still— namely the Preston-born Brit and, surprisingly, Drew McIntyre; he didn't accept the fact that she could throw in with the boys just as well as they could.

And on top of trying to prove herself tonight in a match that would pit her against men, on top of being injured, on top of the drama with Dean… the Ultimate Road Warrior had passed away the previous week.

Nothing was quite going to plan.

"Ah! Just the woman I wanted to see!"

 _Nothing_ was quite going to plan.

Bobbi spun and plastered a small grin on her face, staring with tired eyes at Stephanie McMahon. "Hey, Steph."

"Good afternoon, Bobbi!" The woman grinned and looked at the pieces of paper in her hands. "I was talking to Doc earlier and he mentioned that your ribs are pretty banged up and have been for the past couple of weeks?" When Bobbi nodded, Stephanie continued. "He suggested for you to take some time off, maybe a couple of weeks again, but altogether so that you're not running around with us."

"Uh…" Bobbi frowned and crossed her arms, said, "you want me to take some leave, is what I'm hearing?"

"Listen, Summer Rae was supposed to star in Marine 4 alongside Mike, but somehow she's come down with some intestinal issues and can't shoot it, so we'd like to give you the opportunity to go and do something else other than wrestling!" Stephanie was bright eyed and nodded, encouraging Bobbi as much as she could.

But Bobbi was stunned. "You… you want me to star in a movie?"

"It's only a small part, only needs to be four or five weeks of filming," the woman reassured her, "you'll be back after Extreme Rules and in time to join the rest of the feud against Evolution. And if you don't want to do it, that's fine, but if you do— you have to tell me right now, because there's a perfect opportunity for you to be written off for a while at the end of the night."

Pondering the proposal, Bobbi paused. She'd be looking after herself first and foremost, nursing her ribs back to health, she'd have some time apart from Dean to sort some stuff out in her head, and on top of that, shooting a movie?

She smiled at Stephanie. "Yeah, of course I'll do it."

But as Stephanie gave her a great big smile, Bobbi noticed a fluffy haired man staring at her from his spot on a half-hidden crate.

Dean had heard every single word.

—

 **RAW Live**

 **April 14th**

 **Birmingham, Alabama**

Being sneaky in a packed arena wasn't really an easy fete, yet as they braced themselves ringside in the time keepers booth, The Shield managed to at least stay a little hidden.

It was Jimmy and Jey Uso against Orton and Batista, a rematch from last week, and just as it had last week, the match had spilled outside of the squared circle. Jimmy and Randy were at it, the latter throwing the Uso twin against the steel steps, off of the ring post, off of the canvas.

But the moment he was at the time keepers booth was the moment The Shield struck.

A four on one assault, a rabid attack on someone who was close to Triple H — and if they weren't already facing repercussions for what they'd done, for what _Bobbi_ had done last week, they would now.

Reigns threw Orton into the barricade to finish him off for a least a little while and again, like the hounds they were, they closed rank on the lone man in the ring. Bobbi across from Reigns, her back to the titantron, Seth and Dean across from each other. But after a little bit of a sacrifice from Rollins so that Reigns could hit a Superman Punch? Batista may as well have been knocked out.

The man rolled from the ring and into Orton's waiting arms, leaving the Hounds of Justice alone and pacing the length of the squared circle.

And the next time they were out in view of the audience was when they were walking down the stairs and towards the ring, their masks secured tight around their faces.

Not for the first time Bobbi led the pack down, slapping arms out of her way and glaring at anyone who stepped out into her path. Jumping the barricade and pacing ringside until the three men were behind her, Bobbi leaped into the ring and stared at the video package of their assault against the Authority— which included her step-up hip enzuigiri against Triple H.

Their opponents for the night had been kept top secret, but soon enough Alberto Del Rio was walking out. Then Jack Swagger. Then Fandango. Then Slater, Mahal, and McIntyre. Titus O'Neil. Ryback and Curtis Axel. Rusev. And finally Bad News Barrett.

Bobbi's blood ran cold.

Eleven on three.

It was an all-male event, but if Bobbi was sneaky about it… she could cause some havoc.

Every time Dean or Roman pushed out against the referee as Seth was in the wrong corner, she'd inch closer and closer to her target. And it wasn't until she'd made eye contact with Roman, wasn't until he stormed into the ring in order to distract the referee that Bobbi made her move.

Stealthily enough that absolutely _none_ of the other wrestlers noticed, Bobbi tapped Fandango on the back of his leg. He gazed down at her unimpressed as she battered her eyelashes, but then he was smirking as he slid down to eye level, murmuring something about how beautiful she was and that he was glad she'd noticed him— something that honestly went in one ear and out the other. Because in the next second, she'd planted a foot on his hip and wrapped an arm around his throat, clambering onto his back until she was wrapped around him in a sleeper hold. Squeezing as tight as she could, Fandango didn't even last ten seconds— he was out like a light within eight.

And by the time his so called 'team mates' had noticed, she was back over in her teams corner, yelling out for Seth to try and reach her.

The match ended not a minute later as the ring descended into chaos. As Roman and Dean were outside keeping the superstars distracted, Seth and Bobbi looked at each other. In a flash of silver and black, a flash of bleach yellow and dark brown, the two had rebounded off the far ropes and launched themselves over the top, flipping down onto the crowd of wrestlers.

The hands on her shoulders were Roman's as he almost picked her up and spun her back inside the ring, and for the moment, it looked like the Hounds of Justice were able to hold their yard.

There was another rush of the superstars as they tried to swarm the ring, but Bobbi landed a dropkick to Slater as he clambered up onto the apron, Roman took care of Mahal, Dean was sorting out Del Rio— and everything seemed to be going fine. Until a boot landed square in the middle of the tapping around Bobbi's ribs. The cry of pain was real and McIntyre looked so proud of himself as she fell to the apron. Dean's head automatically snapped around to stare at her. But so did Barrett's.

The latter was between the ropes then and shoving Drew away, planting soft, feathery kicks along her stomach that barely even hurt— and what the actual _fuck_ was Barrett doing?!

But that was it. Finally, the numbers game had become too much and The Shield was being subdued.

Bobbi was tossed unceremoniously from the ring and she landed with a groan, stared up at all the men in the ring with a grimace across her face. She didn't know how long she stayed there on her side, curled into a ball.

And then the sound of a ticking clock filled the arena.

Evolution was back.

She barely managed to push onto her feet and gaze up the ramp when a bullet-like man flew into her chest shoulder first, nailing her with a spear so heavy it threw black spots into her vision and pushed a horrible scream from her lips. Bobbi crumpled in on herself and clutched at her ribs, tried to suck the air into her lungs, but there were hands on her body and then she was picked up and slung over a shoulder.

Limp in the arms of the man that ran the business, Triple H carried them both into the ring, discarded Bobbi into the corner.

The three of them were on Seth then, stomping and kicking and keeping him down. Roman's attempt to aid his friend in a flurry of offence left him down on the mat in an RKO. Straight afterwards, a Batista Bomb.

Seth was next in line to receive a Batista Bomb. Then Dean was fed to the lovechild of a single-man powerbomb and an RKO.

By the time Bobbi was compass enough to push herself back into the turnbuckles, she knew she looked pale in the face, her stomach churning.

With a microphone in his hand, Triple H spun. His burning eyes locked onto Bobbi. "Last Monday Night on RAW, you made a fool of me. You cost me the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. So tonight, I'm going to make an example of you."

Randy Orton stalked forwards and ripped her away from the turnbuckles, just as quickly throwing her down as he delivered a flawless RKO.

The crowd was booing so heavily that Bobbi could feel it in her bones.

More hands on her, a fist knotting in her hair, bent over with her head face-down between the bosses legs. Arms chicken-winged behind her back, face landing on the mat in a DDT variation that The Game called a Pedigree.

She didn't get back up after that.

"Believe," Triple H said into the microphone, "in _Evolution_."

—

God bless the man, Bray had called her as soon as she got back to their hotel. Somehow she and Dean had been paired together by the other two Shield members, but neither of them had complained— so while Bobbi talked on the phone to her long time friend, Dean was cleaning himself off and preparing for bed.

"Your ribs then?" Bray asked quietly. "How are they holding up?"

"Could be a lot better, y'know," she replied just as quietly. "Fuckin' McIntyre— don't know what the hell his problem is, but he needs to pull back on his kicks when he does them to someone half his size. Getting another x-ray tomorrow morning."

"Fingers crossed for you, doll. I'll have a word with him, if you want."

"I can fight my own battles, dad," Bobbi joked easily, staring out across the city lights as she stood out on the apartment balcony.

"A movie, huh?"

She smiled. "Yeah. Apparently so. Dunno, I might only have a cameo or something, but Stephanie said that Summer was too ill to shoot it and they needed a replacement, so they turned to me."

"How you feelin' about that, then?"

"One time thing. I think."

"Say that now…"

She chuckled along with him and then sighed, gazed up at the stars.

"You and Dean spoken yet?"

"Nope."

Bray hummed at her, voice almost disappointed. "You said you were goin' to, doll. Why haven't you?"

"It's just…" the woman paused as she searched for the right words to say. "It's weird. It's _awkward_. It's not like he's mad at me or anything, and I mean… I'm not mad at him. Not as mad as I was on the night. It's in the past, y'know? And I know how it goes, I know the speech of 'if he's done it once', but—"

"It's controllable."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's not like Craig, not at all. When he got mad at me and said those things… it's like some part of him was literally calling for help. Like, these words were tumbling out of his mouth and he meant every single one of them, I know he did, but it was like all the walls were back up, all the barriers."

"Doll," Bray said, "don't get caught up in a mess that you can't fix, yeah? You can't even handle yourself sometimes, so how do you expect to handle him?"

The words weren't malicious or condescending, they were the blunt truth— she _couldn't_ handle herself sometimes. "I know," Bobbi whispered. "I know, Bray. Ugh. I dunno. Maybe this break will be good for me. Get away from the ring, get away from him. Sort everything out in my head."

"Sort it out in your head, huh? Decide what you want from him?" She knew that if she could see him, Bray would be giving her that fatherly look. "Doll, I'll only say this once. When you come back, you either give him 100%, or you drop it. You don't want this to be another Barrett, okay? I know that you have feelings for Dean, I know that he had feelings for you— I can see it in _both_ of your eyes. Take that step if you want to stay with him, and if you don't? Stop draggin' him along."

And like usual, Bray had a very good point. "Yeah… maybe ending things would be better for the both of us."

The words came out as a whisper and sounded hollow to her own ears, sounded fake. She wouldn't convince anyone of that when she couldn't even convince herself.

But then there was a cough behind and she snapped her head around, stared over her shoulder. Right at Dean. "The bathroom's good if you need to use it."

He spun away without anything else and for a moment, Bobbi thought she was safe, that maybe he hadn't heard anything.

She ended the call with Bray quickly and shuffled into the bathroom, dragging a duffle bag behind her. Bobbi groaned as she tried to lift her shirt over her head. Her back was bruised from landing a spot the wrong way and her ribs were still in a lot of pain, so she couldn't really find the will to push herself a little extra.

"Dean?" She softly called. She didn't want to wake him, just in case he'd fallen asleep, but then his mousey blonde hair popped around the corner and he was looking at her with a dimpled grin. "Can you help me undress, please?"

A moment of silence passed between them. Either her words hadn't fully registered in his head or he wasn't paying attention, because his face still had that cheeky grin on it. The same grin that didn't reach his eyes. Her heart beat a little faster, then. _He'd heard every single word._

"Sorry?"

Rolling her eyes, she motioned to her top. "I can't get it off, just give me a hand and then go back to whatever you were doing."

His lips pursed and then he nodded. "Sure thing, sweets."

Dean worked in silence, slipping his hands under her wrestling top and quickly pulling down the zip.

When his eyes met hers in the mirror, his façade crumbled. Her heart tugged as he quickly dropped his eyes, sucked his bottom lip into his mouth. He didn't look cheeky anymore, he looked hurt. And Bobbi had done that to him. Because he'd overheard the entire conversation.

"Dean… I swear I didn't—"

His lips pulled up in a half-sincere grin. "It's okay, Bob. You don't have to explain yourself to me."

But Bobbi turned and wrapped her hands gently around the back of his neck, shaking her head. "No, I should have. First and foremost, we _trust_ each other. And I should've told you."

"Bobbi…" he pulled away from her touch and leaned back on the bathroom wall, and her heart dropped to her stomach. "I don't blame you for not saying anything. It's not like we're a thing, or like we're dependent on each other. It was nice while it lasted, right?"

Even to her ears, it sounded hollow. It sounded wrong. Because even though they hadn't labeled whatever they were, there was _something_ there. And Bobbi knew that Dean felt it just as strong as she did, if not stronger.

"I'll be gone for a month, maybe shorter than that," she murmured. Her eyes were downcast and the mood in the bathroom was somber. "It's not permanent, Dean, I'll be back to say hi, but Stephanie thought it would be a good idea while I got my ribs sorted." Dean was nodding at her words, but she felt like they weren't sinking in. "I'm coming back, Dean, what we have doesn't need to end."

"What do we have, Bobbi?"

When she looked up, his eyes were dead straight on hers. And if he was looking for an answer, she couldn't give it to him. She didn't know. The only thing she knew was that she didn't want to leave him.

The room was quiet as the two stared at each other.

Then, Bobbi rocked forward on her feet and slammed her mouth into Dean's, kissed him as feverishly as she could. He reacted to her touch straight away, arms circling around her waist as he spun them against the door. After almost two weeks of nothing— after last weeks mishap— holding herself against him felt like home.

Her back was pressed into the hard wood and their mouths were together in a heated exchange, and Bobbi didn't even want to think. She just wanted to lose herself in him.

She slid her tongue along his and pulled back, mouth along his cheek until the stubble on his jawline rubbed against her lips. His head dropped back and there was a heavy groan that sounded at the back of his throat like his eyes were rolling into the back of his head, and then she bit down into the tender flesh just under his jaw, right above his pulse point. She nipped, kissed, licked — peppered his neck with her mouth until he was panting and his eyebrows were pulling together.

"Bobbi," he groaned, and his voice was gravely and deep and sent heat throughout Bobbi's veins. " _Fuck,_ I can't…"

But she didn't stop. Her slender fingers traced along the back of Dean's neck and a shock ran down his spine, goosebumps erupting on his muscular arms. Dean dropped his head and somehow kissed his way back to Bobbi's mouth, and the fire in both of their bodies, in their kiss, made it hard and wet and passionate. Bobbi's fingers danced along the skin at the side of his neck and her other hand was tangled in his hair at the base of his skull, and then there was another growl at the back of Dean's throat. She pulled away, sucked in a large breath, but all he did was chase her and press them closer together.

Quickly, his arms dropped to hoist her thighs around his hips, and her breath was pushing out his name between their mouths.

Dean pressed against her harder, hips bucking forward to keep her against the door, and he arched his back in an attempt to get rid of his shirt, and then his chest was all hard muscles and skin underneath her hand as she moved it to grip his arm.

When her nails started to dig in, when he was pulling the breath from her lungs with the desperate way in which he was kissing her, he reached down to shove her underwear aside, slipped his rough hand between her thighs. Bobbi gasped, Dean drinking it from her lips. Her head fell back, away from his mouth, a breathless mewl falling from her throat.

His lips were on her collarbone then, tongue dipping into the crevice. Fingers rubbing against her folds, Bobbi groaned and pulled her eyebrows together as she struggled to get the breath into her lungs. But Dean moved his mouth to her jaw and whispered into her ear "you can't leave me," and suddenly it was even harder for her to breathe.

These little gasps and whines were coming from Bobbi's mouth, and Dean felt them travel right down to his penis, felt them ball there and weigh heavy in his gut. When he ripped apart the rest of her lace underwear and put two fingers inside of her, Bobbi's gasp turned into a loud moan and Dean pushed his tongue into her mouth in a sloppy kiss.

"I can't— I can't— I'm sorry," Bobbi struggled to say against his desperation.

The hand that was gripping her thigh moved to her shoulder, gentle in his movement to push the bra strap aside, heavy fingers cupping her breast. His fingers retracted at the same time and Bobbi breathed his name again, hands already fumbling against his pants, unlatching the button, and then he was pushing them halfway down his legs.

With a groan that sounded more pained then anything, Dean shoved into her.

His movements weren't soft, they weren't caressing. He was torn, he was breaking, but he wanted her and he wanted her to stay, and this was the only way he could think of that could possibly persuade her.

So he trailed he calloused hand up her stomach and she arched into his touch, and he was pounding into her with everything he had, each thrust screaming _you can't leave me_ , and each thrust pushing him closer to an emotional release.

It didn't take long for Dean's movements to become erratic; he had an arm wrapped around her waist and another cupping her breast and he was sucking on her throat, and the pleasure mixed with her emotions was too much for Bobbi to handle.

When her orgasm hit her, she couldn't breathe. Her lungs were burning and her chest was arched against Dean's touch, and salty tears fell from her eyes.

Bobbi's head rolled against Dean's neck, and when he felt her inhale and then sink her teeth into his neck, he was gone.

His eyes were slow to open. And when he found the tears pooled in hers, he backed away. Pulled his pants up and clasped the buckle. Threw his sweater back on. And shoved the door that Bobbi was leaning against open so he could leave.

And she waited for him. Bobbi changed into her pyjamas, pulled some black socks on. Sat on the bed and just waited for him.

There was shouting in the hallway, and she recognised his voice, but she didn't get back up. If he wanted space from her, space is what he would get. After the news he'd heard from Stephanie, after what she'd said to Bray, he had the right to be mad at her.

Not ten minutes later, the door slammed back open.

Dean's eyes _screamed_ anger. His lips were curled back and as he slammed the door shut to their hotel room, Bobbi's stomach dropped. Something had changed. Something had shattered.

"Were you ever going to tell me the story behind you and Barrett?"

 _Oh_.

Bobbi's heart lurched to her throat and she felt like she was going to be sick. He knew. Barrett had told him, twisted the story, had done something to make Dean react like this.

She was slow to stand, her hands wringing together as she met his eyes. "What did he tell you?"

"He told me that you guys became friends, that you pushed his buttons, made him mad, that you waited until he fell in love with you to break his heart. Told me that you were a heartless, cold bitch with no emotional capacity for love." Dean laughed without humour. "Bobbi, you said you couldn't do emotions, but I look into your eyes and I _know_ you're lying, so tell me that's not what's happenin' between us, tell me that you're not leaving just because you can't handle emotions, tell me you're not leavin' 'cause of me."

With her silence, Dean shook his head. "Do you even want to be with me? This whole, 'I'm not ready' crap, is that even real? Are you fuckin' with my head just because you can?"

The breath caught in her throat. He was throwing one curveball after another and she didn't have time to duck or weave, they hit her straight in the gut like a punch, winded her. She stumbled for her words, opened her mouth, but nothing came. His eyes became cold then.

"I knew you were hiding something," he murmured. "I knew you were plotting, I knew there was more. You could never want to be with someone like me, you never said it, did you? No, no, you never wanted to. What we have? It's gone. You didn't break my heart but you came damn close, Bobbi."

He spun on his heel, about to leave.

And finally her words came. "He didn't tell you the whole story."

And, well, _that_ stopped him. Even if her voice was small and shaking, he'd heard it. He turned around with his hand on the door and fixed her with a look that sent shivers down her spine.

"Ten years ago. Afford me the time to tell you what really happened, Dean, then you can walk away and do whatever you want."

It took time. But he nodded. Bobbi took a deep breath.

"I was nineteen, freshly out of the boxing academy. Nathan and I… well, I was in _love_ with him. But he was sick, mentally twisted in a way that I've never seen before and haven't seen since. You think people like Bray Wyatt get their characters from fiction? Well, they're based off of people that are like Nathan. He was gorgeous - I was transfixed." Bobbi laughed without humour.

"Nineteen years old and head over heels, he decides that he wants to test something. He pulls me along with him and we travel across the country to Texas," Dean's eyes flash with recognition, "and he finds these people, normal, boring people, and he makes them do things that bring out their real character. He thinks that seeing people at their worst will reveal who they truly are inside, but what he doesn't realise is that he's absolutely ruining them."

Bobbi took a deep breath and lifted her eyes up to the ceiling, shoved her shaking hands into the sheets of the bed. "He stole, he took what he wanted. And then he realised that he didn't care about those people he'd gathered. He turned his attention to me. Pushed me to the edge, tipped me over without remorse, broke my heart. Shattered it." She sucked in more air, eyebrows furrowed. "There were so many things that he did, but my nightmares are always about the same three things. He choked me one day, into a state of unconsciousness, and when I woke up I was dressed in all white and drugged and he was preaching some ancient song-verse over my head just to see my reaction. That scar on my shoulder blade? He took a burning hot rod and pressed it against my bare skin. A while after that, I went to sleep in our room and when he woke me up…"

"You don't—"

The way Bobbi looked at Dean shut him up. "I need to get this out, okay? Or I will _never_ talk about it. When he woke me up, I was tied bed-post to bed-post, spread eagled, and he was… he was telling me that I would never be good enough, that I'd never reach my dreams and that I'd never amount to anything, I would always be _nothing_. He got in my head… _so_ much. He was constantly in my face and abusing me, and the last night I was there? He tried to rape me." Across the room, Dean's eyes darkened considerably, but Bobbi continued without breaking stride. "I snapped. I hit him and I just… I saw red. I was out, I was finished, I haven't seen him since that day because I burnt his fucking house to the ground."

"Bobbi…"

She kept talking. "So I get into the indie circuits, adapt my boxing knowledge into wrestling knowledge. A couple of the guys and I trip over to England, but I've built up a reputation. A girl needs release, you know? So I started sleeping with a guy, decided I'd had enough, moved onto the next. I told them at the start that I wasn't interested in a relationship, especially after what I'd been through, but they still felt like I was obliged to give them my heart. You called me untouchable? That's where it came from."

"Wade heard about me," she was sitting on the edge of the bed now, no longer even looking in Dean's direction. "Had received it as some kind of dick measuring contest. He thought that if he could get under my skin, he'd make a name for himself. So, he started the game. We hung out a lot, he got noticed by the people I was touring with, word went back to HQ and bam, they were interested and wanted him in the States. That was when I found out his true intentions.

"When he told me he loved me, I made it public. I shamed his image, tarnished it with the truth and broke his heart." Bobbi spoke now without remorse. When she looked at Dean, he was indifferent. "What Wade told you is the truth for him, but he twisted the situation to something that made me come off as the lone bad person, and I'll admit what I did wasn't the _nicest_ thing, but I'm _very_ taken with the idea of karma."

Dean snorted and tossed a hand through his messy hair. "Karma? Seems like that's come back around to kick us _both_ in the ass."

"I _know_ I should have told you about everything earlier but I protect myself when I deem it necessary," Bobbi stressed, "and you gotta understand that by now. I was a very scared girl for a very long time until someone showed me the advantage in putting up walls and breaking down others', like little freaking Russian dolls, there's always more walls inside the initial ones and I need to _protect_ myself! I needed to know you so I knew that it was going to be safe for me!"

But this seemed to hurt him even more. "Protect yourself? From me? Like a Goddamned fuckin' game?"

"Frankly, yes, okay? All my life, all I've _ever_ known from men is that they're good for getting off on. But it was never a game, it was never a competition, I just— I don't like being vulnerable! You _have_ to understand that! _You_ of all people have to understand that!"

Dean laughed. "Of all people? Oh no, I understand it, toots. Use me for sex, use me to feel better about yourself. You did a great job of it when you got under my skin, huh? And now you're gonna leave and come back and treat me like nothing more than a spoke in your wheel."

She launched off the bed in frustration and her hands flew to her hair. "It's not like that! You're not a spoke in _any_ wheel! I _told_ you when we started this that I didn't do commitment or relationships, okay?"

" _No_ , not okay! Why me?! Why choose to do this to me? Coulda done it to Ziggler, coulda done it to Barrett or any guy out there on the fucking roster, but you did it to _me_."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Dean. I didn't fucking _choose_ you, it just happened."

"You had to have felt _something!_ Or you wouldn't be _leaving!_ "

His eyes were _anguished_ , like he'd lost something inside of himself the moment he'd found out she was leaving, the moment he'd found the real story behind her and Barrett.

"Dean…"

"No, no," he laughed, "You don't get it, do you? Everything I have _ever_ loved has been _taken_ from me! You make me fall in love with you and then you tell me who you _really_ are and now you plan to just disappear on me! Bobbi, it's like I don't even _know_ you anymore."

She sucked in a breath at his words and turned away so he couldn't see the emotions in her eyes or on her face. "Don't."

"Don't what, _Barbara_? Tell you that I don't know you? Because I don't!"

Her palm hit his face before she could even register what she was doing. There were tears in her eyes now and he looked shocked as he took a step back. She was so _angry_ , angry at him, angry at Wade, angry at the entire situation.

When she spoke, her voice shook. "Don't tell me that you love me and then say you don't know me. I mean— you're right, aren't you? You _don't_ know me, but after listening to what I just told you? You're gonna tell me that I don't _get it?_ You know, what _I_ don't get is what happened last week! What I don't get is that you went to a bar and got shit faced with some _slag_ and then sexually assaulted me! Dean, I was _scared_ of you. For the quickest second, I fucking compared you to Nathan! Do you know what that did to me? Comparing one of the best things in my life to the worst thing that's ever happened to me?"

His eyes were dark with guilt, dark with such remorse. And when she trailed off her voice was weak and the tears were flowing freely from her eyes.

"You don't know me?" Bobbi's voice wavered with emotion as she spoke, but she didn't stop. "Well here's the real me. The one that's been sleeping with you for the past half-year, the one that is standing here in front of you _crying_ because I don't want to lose you! Because I don't want to lose the man I think I'm _falling in love with!_ "

He looked at her like she'd told him the world wasn't turning anymore. Like she'd done something unthinkable. Like he was about to turn and back out of her life forever.

After this, she wouldn't even see him for a month. Maybe more. And so she did the only thing she could think to do.

She kissed him.

Put her hands around his neck, pressed herself up into him. Arched her back to curve along the slight bend in his torso.

It wasn't rushed or heavy with intensity, it wasn't hard. It was soft, a gentle peck against his mouth, and his hands were caught between their bodies. It was _different_. The tension was tangible in the air and she could feel the salt of her tears between their lips, but she kept them pressed there until she started trembling.

She pulled back and looked up at him and was unashamed of the love in her eyes and she didn't care whether Bray or anyone else could see it when she looked at him, because the _only_ person she wanted to see it was _him_.

He was staring at her with eyes made of glass and he looked so fragile, so unguarded, so open and vulnerable.

And her hands were shaking.

She remembered the first night that she'd shown him, how he'd covered her hands and said 'not anymore!' so triumphantly, so proud of himself.

In one last attempt to reach out to him, she held her hands out. "Look at that… they're shaking."

About to drop them, she curled her fingers back in. And then warm hands slid between hers so she had something to hold, but when she opened her eyes, Ambrose was across the room and Seth was standing in front of her.

 _Had he been here the whole time?_

"Come on, sweetheart," Seth breathed into her hair as he pulled her in. "Let's go take a walk, yeah?"

The tears were openly gushing now, like a waterfall that had no breaking point.

This was not how she'd expected their talk to go.

* * *

 **i tried to upload this last night, but i went to save the chapter on the site and it crashed and i lost like 400ish words and it just wasn't a good night :( but hey, here you go! finally got this massive blow up out of the way! also, the length of this was something i was debating about, but i couldn't really cut it in half, so enjoy a longer chapter!**

 **also, some paige, a bit of bray, finally her entire backstory is out in the open, GETTING WRITTEN OFF SCREEN FOR A MOVIE?! i loved summer in the Marine 4, but this just worked for her, so w/e, go with it :) also, i loved writing all of RAW, personally...**

 **to my wonderful reviewers; Raquel the writer** (yes, he does owe her an apology! preferably with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine!) **, quinzel harley** (things getting better? for my characters? im not that kind of writer ;) glad you enjoyed Ro and Bryan, though! hope you survived this one!) **and calwitch** (alcohol man, makes you do stupid crazy things! everything about why he acted the way he did will be out within the next couple of chapters, so don't worry about it! he still owes Bobbi a HUGE apology though...) **, thank you guys so much for taking the time to review! hope new readers and old enjoyed this update :)**

 **much love xx**


	29. Chapter 29

What— what had just happened?

Was that it?

Was it over?

Was that all she and Dean would ever be?

The tears streaming across her cheeks didn't stop for most of the night. Roman had opted to stay with her and try and act like a big brother which meant Seth had taken her spot in Dean's room. But— she'd heard the yelling match between the two and the slamming of the door and knew that Dean had left. He'd just left.

Bobbi felt numb. For the first time in years, since Barrett, her heart had broken.

The Samoan had tried talking to her, tried figuring out what exactly had happened, but his words went in one ear and out the other and she felt so insanely sick that she was sure she was about to throw up. But she didn't.

After that night, days passed like leaves falling from a tree.

She left the main roster and travelled to Squamish in British Columbia and— almost everything faded to the background.

Just like she'd thought, being away from wrestling and being away from Dean was almost soothing on her soul, but it was also torturous. She needed him, she needed his smile and his laughter and his unpredictability like she needed air. It was pull and push. Give and take. She'd never felt this way after a split.

Mike was a lovely guy. He helped her with some acting skills, some basic ways to make the character something that she could act out easily. A pause here, a frown there. WWE had in more ways than one prepared her for acting in front of a live camera, but doing the same line over and over again for five or six different angles on the same scene? It was beyond frustrating. And on top of that, she had to learn how to shoot a sniper and run through the woods without tripping on anything (and honestly, that was probably the most difficult part of the whole thing).

But while she wasn't on set or shooting promotional pictures for The Marine 4, she was keeping up to date with what was going on with her guys.

The following SmackDown had been a no show for The Shield, but every chance they got, the video package of their decimation was thrown out. It looked horrible and Bobbi cringed when she saw the footage of herself being stretchered out.

The RAW after that, her boys had shot a scathing promo against Evolution, vowing revenge for what they did to her. On the next SmackDown, another three-on-eleven handicap tag team match. But her boys had used the knowledge to attack the men that were supposed to be going up against them. Swagger, 3MB, Brad Maddox, Fandango. All of them attacked before the match, which left the numbers six against three. And that was something The Shield could handle.

There was a brawl with Evolution both before and after their match which saw them standing tall once more. The highway to their match up at Extreme Rules was fully underway.

Ambrose was made to defend his United States Championship in a fatal four-way against Alberto Del Rio and Rybaxel, in which he only just managed to retain thanks to his brothers' timely interference.

Their win against Evolution at the pay-per-view was something that had Bobbi dancing around her hotel room.

And in all three weeks, all of those days that had passed, not once had she or Dean tried to contact each other.

On the fourth week of filming, Ambrose lost his title in a twenty-man battle royal. The same night, they were forced to face off against the Wyatt Family one last time— but any chance of a win was thrown out the door when Evolution led an attack that saw Roman triple-powerbombed through the announcers table.

By the time it was Wednesday morning, Bobbi's phone was buzzing with Roman's name flashing up across the screen.

"I'm flying across to see you," Roman proclaimed as soon as she'd answered. "And I'm not taking no for an answer, so text me the details of your hotel room and I'll bring some take away with me."

Not five hours later saw the Samoan standing in front of her hotel room door with promised Chinese food in his hands.

He dropped the bags and gathered the silver-haired woman into a hug straight away, dropped a kiss onto her head. "Missed you, baby girl."

"Missed you too."

As he pulled away, his fingers ran through the silver hair. "You got rid of the black…"

She had. The silvery grey was the only colour in her hair now. "The director liked the black, but he said that he wanted just one colour." Bobbi paused and looked down at the freshly cut strands. "Plus, I like it. I've had the black for too long, so it's good to have something that's a bit different."

Roman walked into her room more and placed the Chinese on the bench, pulling out a six pack of Corona's as well. He smiled when she shot him an appreciative look.

Setting up at the table, the two friends munched on their fried rice and dumplings as they caught up.

"How's the movie going?"

Bobbi hummed around a mouthful of pork bun. "It's okay," she said, "different from everything else. It's so weird, they do everything five times and then another five times for different angles."

"Sounds tedious," Roman commented with a chuckle. "Dunno how you'd survive that."

Conversation was easy. It flowed around Mike, around what it was like on set, around her favourite parts to shoot.

And then his phone was ringing. Bobbi glanced down and as soon as her eyes locked on the name, Roman denied the call. He caught her questioning gaze. "You're more important, right now."

"How is he?"

Ro's eyes were cautious as he looked at her, like he wasn't sure what he was about to get himself into. "He's uh— Dean's good. I guess."

"You guess?" Bobbi pried. Her eyes shifted to his phone as it started to buzz again. "You gonna answer that?"

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all."

Bobbi lifted her bottle of Corona to her lips and took a long sip, dropped her eyes back to an empty bowl of what used to have fried rice.

"Dean, what's up?" Right away, Roman's eyes lifted to the woman sitting across from him. "I, uh— I can't really talk right now… yeah, I am. Yeah. Okay. I'll give you a call tomorrow."

Silence flooded the room and pale green eyes were locked on stormy grey as the Samoan pondered on what to ask. She could feel it, that he wanted to ask what had happened, but that he didn't want to overstep the line or put their friendship on the rocks. So Bobbi smiled at him and nodded her head, side of her mouth curved up. "He didn't tell you anything?"

"Said that it was your business."

Bobbi nodded again but the smile was gone. "All of it?"

"Whatever you want, baby girl."

Spilling the darkest parts of her history for a second time in the space of a month felt no better than the first time, but she wouldn't waste the time she had with Roman if he could help her.

"Almost twenty, out of the Maui Thai academy my father ran… I met this guy at a club. His name was Nathan and he was so— so _attractive_. I was like a fuckin' fly in a spider's web, had no idea what I was getting myself into. Turned out he was pretty much psychotic, but I didn't realise that until it was too late. Hung around him for a while, fell in love… I was so fuckin' reckless. But he wanted to travel the country and wanted me to do it with him. Tried to teach me the beauty of pulling things apart, tried to experiment with different people, showed me how to press which buttons to get what reactions. He thought that if he saw someone at their worst, that was how they were really like. Thought that if he taught me how to pull people apart, no one would use me ever again."

Bobbi paused and sucked in a deep breath, but Roman was patient as he sat back and stared at her. "One thing led to another, and he got in touch with some old friends of his that apparently owed him. Essentially kidnap people for his own benefit. He always managed to twist his words, never once made someone stay when they didn't want to stay, but… but people were afraid to leave. So he put them in front of their fears, he threatened them, he emotionally abused them, he stole their sanity, took what he wanted, let them go. But then he saw my reaction to it. And he was like a new man."

She raised her eyes to the ceiling. "So he made me watch him pretty much torture people, he sat me down and tried to contort my sanity into his own mould. He would try to hypnotise me, drug me so I'd hallucinate, told me I was never going to be good enough for my parents and that my dreams would kill me. But he was killing me…" when she trailed off, Roman sat forward to try and catch her eyes. "And one night he went too far. It was one thing when he emotionally abused me, it was another thing entirely when he tried to take advantage of me sexually. I snapped, Ro, I'd had enough. I wanted out. I tore that entire place to the ground without blinking, but I can't really remember any of it. Just the anger. Just the fire."

He knew better than to reach out and try and comfort her. She was shaking, but she was also strong enough to pick herself back up.

"No one really knows what happened apart from Phil and now you and Dean, I guess…" she trailed off and sighed. "I didn't expect for him to be okay with it when he found out, but he just— he was so upset with me. With what had happened between us, with what he'd heard me say."

"And what about Barrett?" He asked as he nodded, finally beginning to understand why that night had gone down the way it had.

"When I met Barrett, I'd built this reputation for myself," Bobbi murmured. "Being without a relationship is one thing, you know, but being without sex as a twenty one year old? Snowballs chance in hell, Ro. I slept with a couple of guys, did the whole friends with benefits thing, when they started to have feelings, I left. I wasn't in the least interested in devoting my heart to something yet." Her laugh was one without humour.

"But then Wade came into the picture. Sweet, caring. He didn't want sex, just friendship. And slowly, you know, I began falling for him. I met Bray around the same time, and when he'd heard that we were close, he did some digging around. Bray knew almost everything about me within a week of knowing me, he's that kinda guy, you know? So when he found out about Wade's ulterior motives, he came and told me.

"'Bobbi, you have to stop this, doll, he's bad for you and will do you no good'," she tried to imitate his husky voice, chuckled when it came out horribly wrong. "But it was too late, 'cause I was already in love with the fucker. My heart broke that day. If he thought he could make me fall in love with him, he was right. He doesn't know. He'll never know, because that'll mean that he won…" she trailed off and dragged a hand through her silver hair.

"I didn't stop," Bobbi continued. "I kept at him, broke him down peg by peg, gave him everything he wanted, and the night he told me he loved me, I made a public display. Phil and Bray, they witnessed the whole thing. He said those simple three words and I looked right into his eyes and I knew he wasn't lying. I threw my drink down his top, exposed his secret, lost my cool. A _lot_. He was mortified because he thought that I was still in love with him."

Roman nodded then because suddenly it was all clicking in his head. "Barrett decided that he wanted to tell Dean then, didn't he?"

A short, chipped laugh fell from her throat, but it wasn't because she found it funny. "Apparently I get this glint in my eye when I feel attracted to someone-"

"You do."

"-and Barrett must've noticed it when I was with Dean. He thought he was doing the _manly_ thing, y'know? Bros before hoes. Not that they were ever brothers. Wade did it to get back at me, for revenge. He's still caught up and I could care less, and he wanted to make me care again."

"What'd he tell Dean?"

"He told Dean that I was using him to my advantage. That I could never love him, that I was heartless and would destroy everything I touched. And Dean believed him, Ro, Dean believed that son of a bitch and when I explained everything, he still didn't care…" tears began to pool in her eyes.

"Don't blame yourself, Bob. He's more broken than anyone I know. And we started working at those cracks, Seth and I, we started to put him back together. And he got it in his thick skull that you were messin' with him, and he couldn't drop it." Roman threw an arm around her quivering shoulder and pressed his lips into her hair. "C'mon, baby girl, you gotta know that Dean doesn't mess around with this kinda stuff, it's all or nothing. If he thinks that he can't trust you, then that's it for him— he might love you, but it's not everything."

"I love him…" she cried, "I love him, I love him, I love him."

—

 _Saturday_ _May 10th, 2014_

It had been almost month to the day. She was set to finish the promotional photo shoots in the next day or so, and if Bobbi didn't sort this shit out with Dean before she arrived, then she'd leave again without even looking back.

Ringing his mobile was a long shot. If he was still mad at her, he'd never answer. If he did answer, he might not want to listen to what she had to say.

But she dialled the number and brought the phone to her ear.

On the fifth ring, he picked up. But he didn't say anything, and Bobbi could faintly hear his breathing on the other end of the line.

"Dean…" she murmured. "You don't have to say anything, just listen to me, please…"

Possibly she'd heard a sound that could've been akin to a groan, but she took the rest of the silence as the permission she was looking for.

"Finish the, uh, well— finish everything today. So, I'll be back Monday and be on TV again, help set up for the ending of the Evolution feud. Stephanie called me the other day and laid a couple of ideas down for my return, which should be pretty cool…"

"Good."

Bobbi froze at the sound of his gruff voice and sighed with happiness, tears brimming at her eyes. _When had she become so emotional?_

"Called Heather's the other day… she's got baby number two coming along. Vanessa misses you, asked about you, told me that as soon as you came back she wanted to go on a date. And Craig is treatin' them so well." She heard him chuckle and physically couldn't stand anymore. She sunk down to her knees and crossed her legs, leaning back against the wall. "I just… I miss you. And I want you to come back to me, because this rift between us? I feel like I've lost my best friend, Dean."

"Bobbi…"

"Just talk to me, Dean," she whispered, "I'm not strong enough for this…"

"Where are you?"

"I'm back in Chicago."

"Tomorrow. Meet me outside that park you took me to, lunch time."

"Okay."

—

 **DEAN'S POV**

 _Stupid_. So fuckin' stupid, so _fuckin'_ stupid.

Dean pulled a hand down his face and stared across at the wall of his apartment. She should have been sleeping next to him.

How long had it been?

Three weeks? Four?

 _Too long._

And it had all happened because of him. Because of how he'd reacted to the date, because of how he'd forgot in the first place. Stupid _fuckin_ ' idiot.

How could he have forgotten his own mother's birthday?

She may have been six foot under, but she was still the reason he was in the world, still the reason he'd turned out the way he had. He'd stopped being bitter about the substance abuse when he'd realised how difficult it was for someone who was as weak as she was to come off it. Hell, he'd experienced it first hand.

But he'd completely forgotten. And Bobbi had suffered because of it.

He hadn't wanted to burden her with his pity drinking and had gone out alone, planned to just lose himself in the bottom of a bottle, but then the blonde had showed up and he'd lost all control over his mind. He'd seen Bobbi and the fire in her pale eyes and had _laughed_ , because of course she always found him, even if he didn't want to be found.

And all he'd wanted to do was to lose himself in her, but he'd been such a fuck-wit about it, had completely fucked up the entire thing.

He'd been mad at himself and he'd lashed out at her and she copped the full force of both his physical and emotional state of mind. He'd called her a slut. To her face. Berated his mother. So _fuckin'_ stupid.

Bobbi had been so mad at him, he'd never seen that kind of anger in her eyes before. But as soon as it was there, it was replaced with sadness, with distress. Had— had he done that to her?

She'd been sitting on the kitchen tiles. And he wanted to comfort her and to keep himself warm and he needed to know that he hadn't ruined what they had. So he'd curled into her. Fell asleep on her. And when he woke up, she left him.

Dean hadn't touched any form of alcohol since then. His blood curdled at the sight of it and his stomach turned because he would remember everything he'd done, everything he'd said.

He'd pushed her so far away that she wanted space from him.

That night— that night had been brooding for a while. All the truth that came out, all the fabricated lies revealed. And she told him that she loved him like it should have kept him there, like it was the best thing that she could offer him, like laying her heart into the middle of an argument would just stop it. He was angry at that. But he was angry at himself. Because she'd sealed the deal with every single word she'd said, all of them, they'd all been the truth and he could see it in her eyes. How could he compete with that?

They were fire on fire.

And for some fuckin' reason, she stooped low enough to call him. Hearing her voice had been like freeing a part of his soul.

And now? Now he was in Chicago. Walking.

When he turned the corner, he stilled.

The khaki beanie was pulled low over Bobbi's newly cut hair. The silver strands fell in tendrils across her chest, all traces of black now gone. She looked less menacing, more soft; Dean wasn't sure he liked it, but she still looked beautiful and nothing was going to ever take away from that.

She was in a droopy maroon singlet and ripped skinny jeans, studded boots on her feet, and without heels, she was shorter than he remembered. Also thinner. Had she lost _more_ muscle bulk while she was gone?

But looking at her was like being able to breathe again for the first time in years.

Seeing her was like drinking pure water after a gruelling workout.

Relief flooded through Dean's veins and for the first time in a month he felt the oxygen really seep into his capillaries, lock into his muscles. He felt like his heart pumped more efficiently, that when he saw her, he felt like he was finding his saving grace. She was his salvation.

 _Salvation_.

A word and it's meaning something he'd never thought he'd be able to experience first hand. Yet here she was, his saviour, his light.

Dean had never been so in love with anyone else in his life. And he wasn't afraid to admit it. Not to himself, not to her, not to the world.

And then his blood ran cold with the thought of how they'd last parted ways. He'd pushed her and she'd pushed back, fire on fire, and he'd felt the brunt of her true feelings. She said that she loved him. And then he had left her. He was so _stupid_.

Suddenly, the speech he'd had prepared for this exact moment fled his mind, and he was standing cocked and loaded with blank bullets.

But her head turned and he didn't have any chance to prepare himself before she was staring at him.

Their eyes met, light green on deep blue. The way they stared at each other was haunting, like they were in a different universe. But neither of them broke away. He could see the caution, the walls, the ones he'd made her rebuild, and he tried to knock all of his down so she could just see the devotion.

Slowly, Dean walked towards her. No words came to mind, no kind of phrasing or inkling as to what he was going to do, but he had this feeling in his gut that she would be the one talking and he would be the one listening.

Dean Ambrose didn't want that to happen.

So when he reached her, he shook his hand out of his jacket pocket and wrapped it around the back of her neck.

There were no more walls. This was him. He couldn't speak, so he'd use his actions.

When his lips pressed down on hers, she carefully returned the gentle touch. Bobbi didn't move, just let him kiss her, just let him caress her neck. He poured his emotions, his feelings, his soul into the way his kissed her.

Softly, gently, then not at all, Dean pulled away. His eyes stayed shut and he leant his head against hers, breathed her breath, shared her space.

"Hi."

He grinned at the sound of her voice, something that his ears had missed beyond reason. "Hi…"

Bobbi's arms wrapped around his waist and she curled into him, moving her head to lay it on his chest. "Haven't seen you for a while."

"I'm sorry," he breathed into her hair. "My fault, Bob. All my fault."

"Two way street."

Dean shook his head and pulled back, looked her in the eyes so that she'd know he was being completely sincere in what he was about to say next. "I'm an _asshole_ for treating you the way I have, Bob, and I— I owe you the biggest fuckin' apology."

Her lips curved, eyes shining with unshed tears. "I'm sorry, too—"

"You have nothin' to be sorry about, kitten. What we had— what we _have?_ I don't want to lose it." When she opened her mouth, he shook his head. "No, no. I don't want to lose it and it isn't something I want to mess around with. But I want you. And I want this, so bad. I barely survived the past fuckin' month without you, Bobbi, I don't know how I'd survive for longer than that. I— I want _you_. All of you. The scars, the bad, the ugly, the fuckin' beautiful, the good. I don't fuckin' care, I need _you_."

"Dean…"

"Be mine, Bobbi. Mine alone. And I promise you that I will _never_ let this go, okay?"

Bobbi was crying, tears now falling from her eyes, but they were happy tears and he smiled at that, bent down to kiss her again.

"Okay," she said against his mouth, "okay."

* * *

 **weeeeeeeeeee**

 **thankyou to my reviewers Raquel the writer** (awesome!) **and quinzel harley** (hun u know i love u right... pls this should make you feel much better!) **,** **hope you guys liked this update :)**

 **leave a comment and i promise to love you :)**


	30. Chapter 30

**RAW Live**

 **May 12th**

 **Greenville, South Carolina**

The previous week, the Hounds of Justice had suffered a horrific beat-down from the hands of Evolution. Now, three fourths of The Shield stood in the centre of the ring as the show officially went on air.

"Last week you saw somethin' you don't see very often, and you're not likely to see it again very often in the future. You saw three members of The Shield laid out," Dean spoke, his entire body shaking with rage. " _Flat_ on our backs. Yeah, we got the crap kicked out of us. But it's cool. It's alright, we might go down— but we don't stay down. If you're keeping score at home, you'll find that we're up much more than we're down. Tonight, we're standing tall in this ring and make no mistake about it; let me make myself _very_ clear right now— **_we want Evolution!_** "

Now the three men were pacing around the ring as Seth took the microphone away. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear; we are not running _from_ Evolution, we are running _to_ Evolution. And if they've got any guts, if they're half the men they _think_ they are… they'll accept our challenge for a rematch and we will run _through_ Evolution! When they show up tonight, we're gonna hunt them down— they're good, you know what?"

Seth turned to Dean, his head titled. "Evolution's _good_ , y'know, let's not take that away from 'em. These are former world champions, these are men who've main evented WrestleMania's. Evolution's _good,_ yeah, we get it, you're real good. You _were_ really good." He paused, stared right into the camera, smug grin tugging at his lips. "Because you're not the Evolution that you once were, because you can't evolve into what it takes to beat _The Shield_. You may have taken one of us out, but man… when she comes back— which she will… she'll tear this entire company apart to get to you."

Behind him, Roman was pacing the length of the squared circle. "You right, big man?" Roman shook his head with a look that could have turned man to stone. "See you pacin' back there, you got somethin' to say?"

"He's mad," Dean said. "He's a little angry."

Gently, Roman took the microphone from Seth's outstretched hand. And then he stared right into the camera. "A month ago, you victimised my sister. Took her out of commission. A week ago, you victimised my brothers. A week ago, you ambushed me, you bloodied me, you RKO'd me, you Pedigree'd me, and you triple power-bombed me. And all of that made me realise— is that all you got?" The smug look on his face deepened. "Because if it is, you got a serious problem. You have a _serious_ problem. And we're gonna teach you that our brand of justice— we can serve it _cold_. We can serve it _so_ slow. We're gonna teach you to believe in the concept of payback. We're gonna teach you to believe in The Shield. And me personally? I'm gonna teach you _individually_ to believe _in me_."

—

The Shield had found Evolution and attacked them. Now? Now it was Evolution's turn to respond to the challenge.

"Alright, listen, Hunter— I don't know if you've had enough, but _I've_ had enough and Dave, I know that you've had enough," Randy spat down the microphone. "It's time to take the _gloves_ off, it's time to start treating The Shield like we need to— we need to _kick their ass_ , Hunter, and I know they were your boys way back, but I _truly believe_ with all my heart, with all my soul… that it is _time_ to put the Hounds of Justice to sleep, just like we did with Arlett."

Batista was spitting words similar to those of Orton's; that he'd had enough.

"Alright, maybe it is time, maybe it's time to take the gloves off, maybe it's time to finish this… _thing_ with The Shield," Hunter said. "At Extreme Rules, they proved how good they are, but I already knew that, that's why I brought them here, Randy. It's why I coddled them, it's why I protected them, it's why I added their female counterpart, it's why I fed the roster to them, to make them into something and I did." He paused, stared across at Randy. "They got a little too big for themselves and I thought I could salvage something out of that— and maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was wrong. You know, I've been a little disappointed in them since Extreme Rules. Tonight, that little so called _attempt_ at an ambush… pretty much the last straw. The Shield has no idea, they're undisciplined, they're like a bunch of little kids with a stick, wavin' it around at whatever's in front of them."

Triple H spun to face the camera and his face darkened. "So it's gonna end. The Shield… you want a rematch at Payback? You want a rematch for the match that you already won? Then so be it, you will get your rematch! But this one will be different because this one the gloves are off and Evolution will do what we do— we will take you apart _one_ by _one_."

"We will start— let's just start with Dean Ambrose. Dean Ambrose— you remember the guy that said 'do we look humbled to you?'… you don't yet. But you will." The Game smirked, looked ready to kill. "And when we're done humbling you, Ambrose, we're gonna move on to the _architect_ of The Shield, Seth Rollins, and I'm gonna pull that little hummingbird's wings off myself. And when we're done with him— we're gonna move onto the _big dog_. To Roman Reigns. You want us to _believe_ in you, do you Roman? Well when we get to you, we're going to take our _time_ with you and we are going to make _another_ example out of Roman Reigns, just like we did with _Barbara Arlett_. You see, the example we're going to make out of Roman Reigns is that Roman Reigns will be the next member of The Shield that does _not_ come back. Roman Reigns, _you_ will fail to adapt. And at Payback? _You. Will. Peris—_ "

The methodical words coming out of Triple H's mouth were swiftly cut off when Seth Rollins launched himself into the back of the man's legs. And The Shield were picking up right where they left off earlier in the night, where they'd ambushed Evolution as soon as the older stable had arrived at the stadium.

While The Shield exiled Evolution from the squared circle and held the ring, the three older men were pacing the length of the walkway angrily. Triple H had the microphone in hand ready to speak into it, but it was snatched from him straight away.

"I've had enough," Batista spat. "I've _had enough!_ I've had enough of _you_ ," he pointed at Ambrose, "I've had enough of _you_ ," this time at Rollins, "and I've had enough of _you!_ " his finger was finally pointing in Roman's direction and the look in his eyes became dangerous. "Reigns— you're the _big dog!_ I've had enough. You and me— _tonight_."

And so it was.

And the match was good.

It was just… not at _all_ capable of measuring up to what was about to happen.

Not even five minutes and a ringside brawl between the two Shield and Evolution members broke out. The match was thrown out quickly after that.

Almost all of the locker room was ushered out into the ring to try and subdue the brawl, but soon enough the brawl was gaining numbers against The Shield and it looked _bad_.

But when Stephanie McMahon's music hit, everything, every single man in that ring, it all just— stopped. Everyone watched with peeled eyes to try and see the woman walking out from the gorilla. She'd pushed them all out there, so what else did she want?

The murmurs started.

Silver hair— not Stephanie, not dark. Pale green eyes— not Stephanie, not blue. All black. Combat. Thickly heeled boots.

They weren't staring at Stephanie McMahon. They were staring at Bobbi Arlett.

Gazing over her shoulder with a little tug at the corner of her lips, she twirled the microphone in her hands, raised it to her mouth. Down in the ring, Triple H was staring at her like he was seeing a ghost.

"Wasn't me you expected, was it?" Bobbi said calmly through the raucous sound of applause. "I mean— the music belongs to your wife, doesn't it? So where on _earth_ is that sociopathic woman you married?!" She laughed, nodded. "I have to say, you _really_ have a way with your words. What did you say earlier tonight? That you made an example of me? This is a PG show, so I'm not really at liberty to say what's on my mind right now, but let me remind _all_ of you standing in that ring of what Seth Rollins said; that I would tear this company to the ground to get to you."

Triple H was now standing in the centre of the ring, flanked by Randy Orton and Batista, the locker room of men holding the three members of The Shield back from attacking.

"He's right. I'll burn this whole place to the ground if I don't get what I want. But, you see… when you're all out here… who's back there? Protecting your wife, _H?_ " The sound of his nickname rolling off her tongue was laced with an arrogant kind of mockery.

For a moment, the silver haired woman disappeared behind the tron. But as soon as she was gone, she was back in the site of the cameras and the COO. In her hands? A petrified looking Stephanie McMahon. "Shoulda hit the music then, huh?" Bobbi pondered out loud. Her eyes were _fire_.

Hunter dashed forwards, yet Bobbi's voice ringing out again stopped him. "Uh uh, no. You stay right there. See, here's the thing. You might be the COO, but you're not a McMahon. Those boys in there? They're more afraid of Stephanie than they will _ever_ be of you— and it just so turns out that _right now?_ Right now, Stephanie may as well be my _bitch_."

The smirk on Bobbi's face cut deeper into her cheeks as she watched The Game become more and more livid. He was pacing now, back and forth in the ring, the fire in his hazel eyes zeroed in on hers. He thought that Reigns ran the show when it came to the black-clad foursome? Not even.

"Now Stephanie," Bobbi continued. "Do you have anything to say?"

When The Shield member lowered the microphone to Stephanie's mouth, the woman's screams for help rang out pathetically. "Please! _Please!_ Hunter! Help me!"

With a fist still knotted in Stephanie's hair, Bobbi kicked the back of her knee and watched with a lazy sort of happiness as the woman in front of her fell to the ground.

"Wanna try that again?"

"Oh my _God_ ," the woman drawled uselessly, "please, please! Bobbi, think about my children! My _children!_ Please, please don't hurt me!"

Bobbi pressed her face into Stephanie's hair where her ear was and the cameras could easily pick up her moving jaw and the shift in the McMahon's eyes that went from petrified to deathly. Whatever Bobbi had said had scared her more than she already was.

Tears filled her blue eyes as she looked across the walkway and into the ring, and then she was speaking into the microphone at her lips. "All of you— all of you, _get out!_ I will _fire_ every single _one of you if you don't_ ** _get out of my ring!_** "

Her voice was definitely cringeworthy, but it did the job. Slowly, the superstars that didn't belong to either faction were pulling themselves away from the ring and away from The Shield.

"Go on," the silver haired woman encouraged, "we don't have all night, do we? You can all leave that way," she pointed towards the side of the stage. Then watched with satisfaction as all of the men slowly dissipated from the arena.

Bobbi spun back to face the COO. "Now that that's out of the way, why don't we have a little chat, yeah? Usually, it'd go something like this— I tell you to get out of that ring and come and save your wife, you tell me you don't trust me, I kick your ass." She laughed as she let go of Stephanie, watched interested as the woman tried to crawl away. "But since there's a few more… _variables_ in this situation, let me enlighten you to how it's _going_ to happen. I'm telling you to get out of that ring, to come and save your wife. You're thinking in your head that you're going to rip me into pieces. But you're going to get your ass kicked. And I don't even have to move."

Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose had been using the time that Bobbi was on stage to recuperate. And now that they had, the three men jumped on Evolution.

Bobbi dropped the microphone and walked away from Stephanie altogether, walked towards the ring as Evolution were thrown from it. Sneakily sidestepping Triple H put her at the steel steps and she sauntered up them, her face a picture of arrogance.

As soon as she was standing on the canvas and between the ropes, Bobbi's shoulders were being grabbed at and she was engulfed by the three men who called themselves her brothers.

A family reunion that couldn't have gone any better.

Bobbi Arlett was back.

And Triple H was going to pay.

—

Though The Shield members weren't scheduled to appear on SmackDown, it didn't stop them from hanging out backstage and causing general chaos.

After the night finished, almost the whole roster was headed to a bar to release some much needed frustrations by hitting alcohol back or by playing darts or snooker. Literally, almost the _whole_ roster was there. Someone had called the bar and asked for it to be shut off to the public for the better part of the night and everyone pitched in money-wise, so it worked.

Dressed in some ripped stone wash skinny jeans and a khaki singlet, Bobbi had alcohol pressed into her hands and was looking forward to enjoying a good night out with friends she hadn't seen in almost a month.

In the distance she could see the little cliques, people like Nikki and Brie hanging out with the 'big dogs' of the E— Cena, Orton, Dave.

Filipa was standing alongside Bobbi at the bar, Paige and her friend conversing like they'd known each other forever. In her hand was a Corona, of course, and her eyes were glued to Heath Slater and Bray Wyatt who were standing at one of the snooker tables and trying to one up each other.

"You should go over," Filipa said over the music. "Teach those boys a thing or two!"

The Brit looked at her then with a grin. "You play pool?"

"Second nature!"

"Seriously?!" Paige laughed then and shot back the rest of her water. "One on one, Bobbi! I reckon I could give you a run for your money."

Bobbi tipped back her head and let out a loud cackle, shot a wink at Filipa. "Does she know what she's getting herself into?"

"I wouldn't doubt her if I were you," she replied, "don't get too cocky, Barb, you are on your— your what? Your fifth?"

"Hey!" Bobbi frowned, but there was a tug at her lips at she took another drink. "At least I can hold my alcohol, thank you very much!"

"C'mon!"

Paige wrapped her fingers around Bobbi's arm and dragged them both over to the pool table. They were playing a weird version of bigs and smalls and both men were on their last ball, and Bobbi really had to hand it to the red head— he knew how to play.

"Which one?"

Looking at her with a confused face, Paige said, "huh?"

"Which one do you usually play? Bigs and smalls or snooker?"

Bobbi could see the flash of realisation on her face. "Bigs and smalls definitely."

The side of her mouth curved up and she turned back to the table, watched with anticipation to see who would pull the win off.

Without having to really look around, Bobbi knew that Dean was playing poker with a bunch of other guys, and occasionally she could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. They were yet to make their… relationship, she guessed she could call it now, official. But their friends could automatically tell the grin on Dean's face was either because of something she'd done or because of her in general.

"You girls looking to play?" Bray asked them as he walked their way.

Bobbi shot him a blinding smile. "I'm ready to kick ass."

It was no secret that when it came to anything on a billiards table, Bobbi became extremely competitive, doing whatever she could to end up with a win under her belt.

"You're gonna _try_ to kick my ass," Paige told her evenly.

Bray laughed at their exchange and sunk the eight ball confidently. Bobbi snatched the cue from his hands right away and wriggled her eyebrows at him. "Lucky stick," she said.

But it turned out that Bray's lucky stick? It didn't matter when Paige was up first. Ball after ball was effortlessly sunk, and for a moment Bobbi was stunned. She hadn't expected _that_ turn of events. Filipa was cackling beside her, nudging an arm every time Paige sunk a ball, and she could feel herself sobering very quickly.

"That's not fair," she muttered, more to herself than anyone else, but when a warm hand caressed the skin of her hip, she knew that she wasn't alone.

"You gettin' your ass handed to you, kitten?"

"I haven't even had a turn yet."

Dean chuckled at the pout in her voice and dropped a kiss onto her head. "Come sit with us once you're done, yeah?"

Finally the Brit managed to overcook a simple shot, leaving Bobbi the perfect opportunity to steal the match.

"Bigs?"

"Yeah."

Within minutes, Bobbi had done exactly what she said she would do, sinking all of her bigs in one go. "Seems like I'm just too good," the silver haired woman laughed confidently, poking her tongue out at Paige.

"Yeah, yeah. I almost had you."

"I got worried for a second."

"Next time," she vowed.

Bobbi excused herself from the area and walked across to the bar, ordered herself another Corona.

"Bobbi!"

The woman in question turned her head at the sound of Brie Bella's voice and smiled at the woman, held her arms open for a hug. The half-Mexican laughed at her cuddly mood and obliged.

"What's up, Brie?"

"Enjoying yourself?"

She smiled. "I am, I am. Can't complain."

"I saw Dean come up to you before…"

Of course. Bobbi smiled warmly at her friend and lifted her eyebrows. "We're good. Sorted it all out on the weekend, and… yeah. We're good."

Brie beamed at the younger woman. "That's great!"

 _Yeah. Yeah, it was._

—

"So."

Bobbi gazed up the next morning over a cup of coffee, pale eyes latching onto dark ones. Seth stood in front of her, his hair just wet out of a shower, and there was a soft grin playing across his lips. Apart from Roman, the stable had gone back to Vegas for their two days off. Filipa had opted to tag along, but only she and Seth were currently awake.

"So…" she mimicked him.

"You and Deano, huh?" The smile on his face deepened when she flushed a deep red. "Oh, c'mon! You thought I wouldn't know?!"

"Did he tell you?"

Seth shook his head. "He didn't need to. Y'know, I saw you and him after that. I saw what he was like. And right now? It's like two different people. You two are so full of life it's crazy."

She couldn't stop the quiet laugh falling from her lips.

"See? That's exactly what I mean! When's the last time you fuckin' _giggled?_ " The bearded man gave her a bright smile and crossed the distance between them, giving her a bone-crushing hug. "Man, I missed you. It's good to have you back."

He moved away from her and almost pranced into the kitchen, started to prepare his breakfast— he was probably starving after the three hour crossfit session he'd done. Somehow he'd waken up at the crack of dawn and pushed himself from the bed and towards the closest gym. Bobbi would never understand how he did it.

"Need some help?"

"Can you do scrambled eggs?"

Bobbi snorted. "I do the best scrambled eggs in the world."

The man already in the kitchen sent her a _prove it_ look, and so they worked together almost effortlessly while preparing breakfast for the four of them in Dean's apartment. Seth had put on some of his music for background noise and was bopping his head, Bobbi sending him a little smile every now and then as he sang along. There was bacon, toast, avocado, hash-browns, the scrambled eggs that she was cooking and coffee on the table by the time that Dean emerged from his room, sleepy eyed and fluffy hair.

"What time is it?" The Ohioan grunted as he plopped himself down on a kitchen stool.

"Time for breakfast," Bobbi replied with a smile, walking around to drop a kiss onto his head. "Morning, sleepy head."

Seth laughed when he grunted back at her. "Alright, eat up."

"You were gonna eat without telling me?"

"Good morning, Filipa!" Bobbi called merrily as the brunette walked into the room. "We're about to eat breakfast, you should join us."

"Fuck off," Filipa moaned, dark eyes latched onto a cup of coffee. "That mine?"

She didn't wait for Bobbi to reply.

"I don't know how the fuck you people wake up in the morning," Filipa muttered a while later. She looked more awake and her dark eyes darted between Bobbi and Seth. Realisation flashed across her face as she looked back at Seth. "Oh, you're back from crossfit, aren't you?"

"No other place I'd wanna spend my morning."

She snorted. "I can think of plenty."

"Oh?" He smirked at her, eyes glinting. "Like what?"

"There's a local diner in Tampa that serves the _best_ Japanese food— I could actually eat that food for the rest of my life and be a happy woman."

Seth pursed his lips in a grin, leant back against the kitchen counter, crossed his arms. "Japanese? Man, I _love_ Japanese!"

"Please tell me you've tried katsu-don?" Filipa pleaded.

Through a mouthful of scrambled eggs, the man groaned. "Yes," he drawled, "ugh, you're making me crave Japanese now!"

Filipa grinned at him in success. "You lived over there, right?"

"For a while, yeah."

"I'm so jealous," she crowed at him, "tell me what it was like!"

"It was amazing. Y'know, cause it had me there."

"Of course it was amazing."

The pair were grinning at each other and Bobbi was sat, gazing between Seth and Filipa with slightly raised eyebrows, but then Dean was nudging her arm. "Am I missing something here?" he whispered.

 _Were they missing something?_ "I— I don't know what's going on."

"Are they _flirting?_ "

"Is _that_ what it is?"

He chuckled at the face she pulled and dropped a hand to her bare thigh, tongue darting out to wet his lips. The slate blue eyes were mischievous as they stared at her. "When are they going again? My mouth needs to be reintroduced to your skin."

Bobbi gazed at him with a slight tug to the corner of her mouth. "They're not, Dean. We're all flying out to London tomorrow, remember? I came back just in time to get on the tour."

"Oh, for fucks sake."

* * *

 **wooooooooooo WE'RE BACK IN ACTION**

 **to my beautiful reviewers; quinzel harley (** aw hun! your comment made my week! i loved writing dean's pov as well! it's one of my favourite things to do :) im glad you liked the chapter and i hope this one continues the happy fluff! **), Raquel the writer (** he better not! at least he wont anytime soon! **), and calwitch (** i agree, they still need to have a decent talk, but atm, im happy with leaving it :) i've been noticing a lack of Seth as well and tried to mend that with the ending of this chapter! sorry! **), thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me, i love all of you!**

 **let me know what you think about Bobbi's return!**


	31. Chapter 31

**RAW Live**

 **May 19th**

 **London, England**

"Last week Triple H talked about… _humbling_ us." Dean was leaning back on a ladder, standing between a brooding Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. "Triple H talked about teaching us a lesson… _eliminatin_ ' us. And then Triple H would run his goons down and hide behind them. Nah, man, 'cause what that looks like to me is Evolution might be _afraid_ of The Shield, and I hope not. Because at Payback, we want an Evolution that _wants_ to fight. This twenty on three crap? This?" He pointed at Roman's black eye, at the stitches. "Is this _your_ brand of justice?"

Roman huffed out a laugh, leaned into the camera. "Nine stitches," he said, "and the question remains from last week— is that _all you got_? Is _that_ your best shot? Because if it is… you have _so_ many problems. You keep trying to knock us down and we keep standin' tall. And we're _never_ gonna stop comin' for you."

"Yeah, Evolution, that's what you don't understand— you keep tryin'— try to attack us when we're down, try and put us down, try and keep us out." As Seth spoke, there was a flash of silver hair, of a tattooed arm against the wall next to him. But he turned to face Roman, and as soon as the audience had seen it, it was gone. "Example; two weeks ago on SmackDown, my match with Batista. I took one risk too many, I made a mistake and he did what he does— he's smart, he took advantage. And then he beat me half to death when I could _barely_ stand on my two feet. Tried to put me out of action. Tried to end my _career_. But he couldn't get the job _done_. And tonight, Dave? I won't make _any_ mistakes."

Finally the camera spun so that Bobbi was in frame, and the deep smirk on her face had the other three boys smiling right back at her. "The Shield is at it's absolute best. Put me out of action for a month and expect me _not_ to retaliate? Real cute. See, this is what The Shield does. We don't back down, we don't give in, we _certainly_ don't let old _has-beens_ try and destroy us. We find a target…" she held her hands together and then pushed them apart in a mock explosion, blowing air softly from her mouth at the same time, "everything that target stands for _explodes_. Adapt or perish, right? Adapt to _me_. Believe that. Believe in The Shield."

—

They were up in their position waiting for Seth's cue to leave when Evolution had their little segment— and Triple H still looked like he was ready to kill.

"If these guys think for a _second_ that that's all we got, they're dumber than I thought they were. This is just the beginning. See what Randy did to Roman's eye? You see the stitches in his eye? Gonna _pale_ in comparison with what I do to Arlett— that's just the start and they know it," The Game was saying.

"Can't miss those stitches, can you?" Randy laughed. "Nah, listen, I think maybe what _needs_ to happen is that we take these guys out one by one at Payback and maybe… maybe _then_ they learn."

"Maybe," Triple H breathed. "Maybe we start tonight. There's already blood in the water Dave, so I say you go to the ring with Rollins and you finish it. He doesn't make it to Payback."

Dave chuckled under his breath. "Yeah, I got it. And I'm gonna do it _all_ by myself."

But then their music was going and Seth was gone, walking out through the doors. Bobbi could hear Justin Roberts' introduction and shadow boxed the wall, listening to the stage hand as he talked with Roman.

"You guys will go out in a second, Seth's just got a few things to say—"

"He wasn't set for a promo," Roman muttered back at him.

The stage hand grinned. "I wouldn't worry, it's literally just a couple of sentences."

She heard The Game's theme, heard him speak through his ass to ensure that all of Evolution were out in the vicinity of the ring. Easily, Bobbi could picture the unimpressed look on Seth's face. And then she smirked when she heard his voice ringing out through the arena.

"You know I got some special guests of _my own_ to make this match as big as possible. So let me introduce to you the special guest _commentators_ Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Bobbi Arlett."

When Bobbi walked out, flanked on either side by her Shield brothers, the crowd was _screaming_ for them.

She could feel the anger radiating off of the COO even from where she stood, but then she was over the barricade and waving at the man whose wife she'd threatened just the week before.

It wasn't any fun when it was boring.

As Bobbi stood across from the COO of the company, watched the anger in his eyes shift, she could feel the smug look on her face deepen. She'd gotten under his skin like no other person had been able to for years, she'd played him. She'd _played_ The Game. And he was _not_ happy about it.

Technically she wasn't even supposed to be ringside. The two men she'd walked down with were special guest commentators, Dean having this innate ability to talk absolute nonsense the whole time, but Bobbi? Well, there wasn't a head-set for her.

The whole time Batista was in the ring— Triple H stared at her.

He wouldn't forget that she'd made an absolute _fool_ of him.

She could hear Michael Cole's questions surrounding her return, her taunt of Triple H, the fact that Stephanie McMahon refused to even _acknowledge_ she'd been bested by another woman.

And both Roman and Dean backed her up the entire time.

The match up between Rollins and Batista was like animal against animal. Where Batista was comparable to a bear in his strength and brute force, Seth was a cat— landing on his feet, agile, fast. Momentum had swung both ways, but when Seth kicked Batista out of the squared circle and followed him in a suicide dive, Bobbi's eyes were locked on Triple H straight away. He and Orton stood across from her, the two competitors in the middle.

And the moment Orton dashed forward to try and stop Seth from getting back into the ring, Bobbi didn't even have to move. She could feel their presence either side of her, Dean on her right, Roman on her left.

They prowled ringside, but that didn't matter when just minutes later, as Seth was on the top rope, Hunter found a way to push him off.

It was on then, Dean running around to sink his fists into The Game's stomach, his back, his chest, and Roman was too busy checking on Seth to realise that his team-mate was about to be cornered.

So Bobbi dashed forwards and flew onto the steel steps, jumped off of them in time to hook her knees around Orton's shoulders, using her momentum to fling herself sideways and execute an almost Lita-esque hurricanrana on the Viper. He was slung sideways, away from Dean and Hunter, and Bobbi didn't waste anytime as she scurried away from the furious looking COO, ducking around Roman as he finally joined the ring-side fight.

There was a chair in Randy's hands then as he spun, sinking the head of it into Roman's stomach, and then the Evolution member was coming for her. Bobbi smirked at him, coaxed him in with a 'c'mon' gesture, ducked his poor swing, straightened, kicked the steel weapon out of his grasp. He grasped at his fingers in pain and she just smirked at him.

"Do _not_ let her leave here—"

Hunter was yelling but his words were cut off as Dean flew across an announce table to land a clubbing blow against his as soon as he had, Orton had wrapped his hands around the back of his neck and tossed him into the steel post.

And suddenly both of her boys were down and Triple H and Randy Orton were looking at her like fresh meat.

Bobbi didn't even have to glance into the ring to realise that Seth was running towards them, but Hunter did— and when he slammed his fist against the side of his head, the match was thrown out.

Batista hit Rollins with what looked like a rib crushing spear.

And now, _all_ of The Shield men were down.

"You wanna screw with me?!" The Game yelled at her, raising his fist to point a taped finger. " _This_ how you wanna go down?!"

"Do you _not know_ who I am?" Bobbi screamed back. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a Samoan prowling. Plan B, it seemed. "Has it ever occurred to you, _H_ , that you've messed with the wrong people? The wrong family? _You_ started this war, you better be ready to accept the end of it!"

She knew that Randy wasn't beside him or even behind him, that he had this way of slithering around without anyone really noticing, but then there were hands on her shoulder and she was being spun. Bobbi pushed out of his hold, took a split second to think.

And then quite literally… out of nowhere, Bobbi wrapped a tattooed arm around the thick neck, grasped his head in her other hand and pulled him down into his own finisher. Again she found herself scurrying away from the COO, but she was laughing, crinkles flaring out around her eyes— she'd just hit an RKO on Randal Keith Orton. And The Game again looked to be a fool.

The Samoan was now in the ring, flying towards a distracted Batista and nailing him with a spear.

Bobbi sent a cute little wave to Hunter.

Behind him, Dean had raised a chair; in the next moment, Triple H was on the floor. He slid into the ring and she followed and The Shield stood tall and smug, bruised, definitely sore, but not beaten. Their fists joined as they stared after the retreating Evolution.

—

Their tour group — which was dubbed the 'red tour' — had just the five house shows to finish off in the UK. Sheffield in England, Orchies in France, Liege in Belgium, Strasbourg in France, and then finally Rotterdam in Netherlands. Bobbi was lucky in that she at least had Paige when she was tired of hanging out with her stablemates, but she also had to put up with Barrett. Which would have been a lot easier to handle had he not saved her ribs from McIntyre's attack. Or kept his nose out of her relationship all those weeks ago. Her conflicting emotions had been particularly easy to see on a long bus ride between the cities.

"You should go talk to him," Dean had said against her hair.

She snorted at him. "Why would I want to do that?"

He didn't respond to her snarky reply. He didn't have to. She knew that he had on more than one occasion caught her staring at the British man. She could almost hear his unspoken words of _if it's bothering you that much, go and talk to him_ — but that was much easier said than done.

Bobbi tilted her head back and pressed a chaste kiss against his jaw, pulling herself up from the seat. _Now or never_.

Barrett's dark eyes latched onto her as soon as she started walking towards him, and the group he was surrounded by hushed immediately. Bobbi paused a couple of rows away and forced a smile. "Can we talk?"

He was up right away, pushing in front of a wide-eyed Justin Gabriel. "Yeah, of course."

She didn't sit down. Instead, she stayed standing next to some empty seats. Her voice was quiet, but he could hear just fine. "So, uh— when they wrote me off of television. Why did you stop McIntyre? I thought you would've enjoyed my pain."

"Barb…" Wade's eyes dropped. She knew right away that he wasn't about to lie. "I'm a professional wrestler. Doesn't matter who's out in that ring, if some _dickhead_ decides that he wants to intentionally botch a move and cause harm… I'm not going to let that happen. Even if it _is_ you. I'm a professional."

 _Huh_. She had not expected _that_. Bobbi nodded her head in acceptance and spun, intending to walk away when his hand shot out to wrap around her arm. Pale eyes glanced back at him.

"You, uh, you don't have anything else to say?"

"Why would I?"

He stopped. Then frowned. "Because of what I said to Ambrose—"

The same thing that had almost ended their relationship had brought them back together. Made them stronger. "We're fine. And actually, what you said helped us. So thanks."

Barrett looked like a fish out of water, gaping at her, eyes wide. "You're thanking me?"

A grin played on her lips. "Believe it or not, I am capable of appreciating the good out of a shitty situation."

"So, uh," he scratched the back of his head and glanced over her shoulder, eyes locking onto something behind her. "I should apologise while I'm talking to you anyway. About everything, I guess. About being weird with you around—"

"You should stop before you hurt yourself," Bobbi teased. He finally cracked a smile at her and she nodded, stepped backwards. "I'm gonna go before it gets awkward."

Barrett grinned right back at her and turned around, letting her do the same, and then she was plonking herself back onto the seat, flinging her legs over one of Dean's. His blue eyes were smiling and there was an earphone outstretched and waiting for her.

"I'm not gonna say I told you," he breathed.

She sent him a look.

Dean grinned back at her and wrapped an arm around her waist and dropped his head into her chest. The way they were sitting was weird and awkward and would have been comfortable if she was leaning against the window, but he was supporting her weight and curled against her. Bobbi felt safe. She turned her head and dropped her cheek against his fluffy hair, raised a hand to trace patterns through the mousey blonde locks, hummed along to the Chris Isaak song. Both eyelids slid shut and she was on the verge of falling asleep.

Roman coughed in front of them. When she opened an eye, his pale ones were staring through the space between the two seats in front of them. "This is a public bus, you know?"

—

They were back in the States on the Sunday, landing in Knoxville and staying the night at a hotel that was close to the arena for Monday nights RAW. There, they would have the contract signing with Evolution.

But for now? For now, Dean was needy.

"I just— I want sex, Bobbi."

"No."

" _Please?_ "

"No."

"Why not?!"

She sighed, rolled over to glare at him. "Because I'm fuckin' exhausted for one and for two, I'm not actually horny! It's not gonna happen!"

"Do you know how long it's been since I've fuckin' even touched you?"

"You touch me every day."

"That's different," Dean muttered, crossing his arms over his chest like a five year old kid who wasn't getting what he wanted. "When was the last time we had sex?"

"Four weeks, six days." He paused at her words. "Not that I'm counting, or anything."

Dean was sitting upright on the double bed with his legs crossed and Bobbi was lying down, trying to get some sleep— he wasn't having any of it.

"Does it not bother you that we have a live televised show today?"

"Not really."

Bobbi twisted over onto her stomach and felt her silver hair fall over her shoulder, across her face, and she was on the brink of sleep when a leg was thrown across her waist, Dean settling his weight on the back of her thighs. He traced calloused hands down the skin of her back, pushing the thin sheet out of the way, pressed his lips against her shoulder blade.

"Dean," she moaned softly, "I'm _really_ tired."

"And I promise you can sleep— after I fuck you."

His lips were forming words around her skin and his vice was deep, husky, and immediately Bobbi could feel the noise travel right down to her gut. When she moaned this time… it was because he'd turned her on in just the space of a moment.

With his hands swiftly pushing her underwear down her thighs, his mouth sucked on a spot at the base of her spine, hands coming back up to squeeze at the soft flesh of her ass. His arm pushed between her thighs and the bed then, dragged her back with such force a gasp fell from parted lips. She was pressing right into him. The friction between their bodies was enough for another moan, and even though she couldn't see him, she knew that he was smirking.

"Not horny, huh?" Dean rasped. "That why you so wet for me?"

It wasn't even skin on skin and he could feel it— part of her wanted to be ashamed, part of her knew that she just had this instant reaction to his touch and his need.

She couldn't see his movements. But she could definitely feel him. One of the hands that had been holding her hip moved, fingers at her folds, and Bobbi let a long moan fall from her lips when he started to stroke her.

"You like that?" he grunted, slowly grinding his hips against both her and his hand.

Burning pale green's gazed over her shoulder and she smirked, barely managed to meet his eyes. "You enjoy watching your dick disappear inside me?"

Like a flood gate, his fingers were gone and his briefs were down, shoving into her right away, and searing white hot pleasure erupted in her gut, Dean groaning and making her toes curl with every thrust. A large and heavy hand was pressed against her back keeping her chest down on the bed and she couldn't see him, could only hear him, and that was almost just as hot.

Within minutes she was sweating and then he was bending over her body pressing his chest against hers and twisting his fingers through her hair, dragging her head back. His lips were on Bobbi's neck then, kissing and sucking just under her ear, heavy pants falling across her face.

"I enjoy having you beneath me," growled Dean, "the way I fill you, you're so tight, so good— gonna come for me, huh? Come for me when Mox tells you, yeah?"

Bobbi's face pulled and her thighs were clenching, walls contracting around him, and her head was spinning deliriously, but his movements were only growing in speed and then his teeth sunk into her shoulder and she was gone, spiralling away from her body and not breathing until she heard him climax behind her, his fingers gripping the silver hair harder, thighs shaking next to hers. He sucked in a long breath and stopped short from collapsing on top of her, instead rolling over onto his back.

But now that she was wide awake, they had a problem; Bobbi was still horny as fuck.

The woman rolled onto her side and stared at her boyfriend with a slight tug to the corner of her mouth. "Did you just call yourself Mox?"

When Dean registered her words, he blushed. Actually blushed.

"Not that I mind…" Bobbi trailed off with a suggestive twinkle in her eye and Dean pulled a hand down his face, tried to cover the smile spreading across his mouth.

"Jesus Christ, give me ten minutes."

—

 **Filipa's POV**

Being friends with Barbara Arlett was a peculiar thing. The Bobbi that she knew back then versus the Bobbi that she knew now were polar opposites. The dirty blonde hair had been traded for silver hair, built and muscled body now slimmed down and more toned, but the pale green eyes were still the same and she could read them like a book.

In fact, Filipa found that she could read almost everyone she worked with. _Almost_. Until it came to Seth Rollins.

And that… for Filipa, that was an entirely different story.

Yet here she was, sat across the table from him, staring into those deep brown eyes with a slight frown pulling at her eyebrows, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"You're not gonna tell them, are you?"

Seth shrugged and dropped his eyes, studied the bottle in front of him. "Dean and Bobbi are finally happy and Roman's got his daughter to think about—"

"You're not gonna tell them."

"No," he finally agreed. "No, I'm not. And I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything either."

Filipa raised her eyebrows. If she were Bobbi, she'd launch into a rant about how he could be so stupid to think that this wasn't important enough to say anything. But she wasn't Bobbi. And her mind was on other things. "I won't," she said eventually.

"Thanks."

The way he was staring at her now with his chocolate brown eyes sent shivers down her spine.

Their friendship had been rocky from the start— apart from a shared love of Japan and Japanese cuisine, they had nothing in common. Filipa despised cross fit and that was all he seemed to do, but God _damn_ was he hot as fuck. Almost like he could read her mind, his tongue traced along his bottom lip.

"I should go," Filipa said softly, finding the will to stand. She placed the empty beer bottle on the table and stretched, felt his eyes trail across the plains of her stomach, the curve of her breast. "Big day tomorrow. Or something."

But Seth was standing then, walking towards her with his eyes locked onto her lips, and Filipa was staring up at him and back tracking as quick as she could until there was a wall at her back. A rough hand grazed at the bare skin on her waist and Filipa's lips parted, her breath coming stronger. He was pressed up against her and crowding her personal space and the hand that was on her back slipped lower to cup her ass, brown eyes glowing and clouded with lust.

He was so close…

"You're dating Leighla—" she whispered into the space between their mouths.

"Yes I am."

"Then…"

"I'm not even close to being happy."

"That doesn't mean you can—"

"Yeah, it does."

And then he was kissing her, all hot and heavy and tasting like beer, and Filipa twisted her hands in his shirt and gave it back as hard as he did, slid her tongue along his, breathed his breath, and apart from the fact that the kiss was better than she could have imagined, Filipa could only think one thing.

Bobbi was going to slaughter the both of them.

* * *

 **sooooo yay or nay for the Filipa POV? i'm only planning on doing it every so often, just for pretty much more inclusion of Seth and what their conversation was about... also YESSS sexy times! also sorry about the wait, i did a ten hour road trip up north on monday and then the same ten hour road trip back down here earlier today, so im super tired! also sorry for any mistakes :)**

 **to my beautiful reviewers quinzel harley** (Bobbi is like... the ultimate Diva badass in this fic, I love messing with the dynamic of it! if you like Filipa and Seth as a thing, did you enjoy this ending?) **, calwitch** (i'm glad you're enjoying the separation between the ring and real life! i like the different kind of dynamic and how it entwines with their lives! *hugs back*) **, and Raquel the writer** (SAAAME also this RAW was fun to write, especially that RKO!) **, thank you so much for your reviews, love you all dearly!**

 **xx**


	32. Chapter 32

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO**

"I'm sorry— _what?_ "

Filipa wasn't even looking her in the eye. They were downcast, ashamed, even a little scared.

"You _kissed_ Seth?" Bobbi was laughing now. She shook her head and pushed her chair back, stalked out of the catering room. Her pale eyes were burning and Filipa was calling after her, trying to grab at her and slow her down, but Bobbi just wrapped her fingers around the woman's slender wrist and pulled her along.

"Bobbi, please, we were both drinking and it was a mistake and it was just a kiss—"

She shoved them both through a door and into The Shield's locker room, eyes immediately focusing on the man with blonde in his brown hair. "You wanna explain to me what the _fuck_ you were thinking when you decided to kiss a woman who _wasn't_ your girlfriend?"

His gulp was visible and he stood up slowly. Almost like he was approaching a bristled animal. "Look, Bobbi, just… I wasn't thinking, okay? I was drinking and I was— I was— I needed a distraction, okay?"

" _Oh_ , so Filipa's a _distraction_ now?" Bobbi spat at him.

"Bobbi, really, just let it go, okay?"

She spun on her friend, pale eyes wide with anger. "Let it go? _Let it go?_ How do you think _I_ would feel if Dean decided to go… _smooch_ up to some other woman, huh? And since when did _you_ have the hots for him, huh?"

Though he'd been quiet, her boyfriend was sitting on the couch behind her, piping up with a quick _I wouldn't_ before returning to his book. The silver haired woman sent him a glare.

"How do you think Leighla is gonna feel when you tell her, Seth?" continued Bobbi, "You think she's going to be _okay_ with it? Do you? I tell you what— I don't care what's going on between you two, I don't know when it started or whether it was a one time thing or whether you two were just feeling lonely, but it stops now and you're fuckin' going to tell Leighla _tonight_ or I will. Your choice."

The female Shield member stalked from their locker room then and shoved her headphones in, turning the volume right up as she tried to find a quiet corner of the arena to shadow box in. She didn't even need to turn around to know that Dean was in the vicinity — she could just smell his body deodorant.

"Do they _really_ think that—"

His mouth was pressed against hers almost as soon as she'd tried speaking and then her body was against the wall, one of his hands gripping her ass and the other splayed along the small of her back. Bobbi gasped as he shoved his leg between hers and then his tongue was in her mouth and sliding along hers and suddenly she'd forgotten why she was even mad, her fingers curling into Dean's fluffy hair.

He pulled back then but pressed a quicker kiss against her lips, finally locked his slate blues onto hers. "You're so fucking hot when you're angry and I'd love nothing more than to just come inside of you right now, but we have a segment to film."

And that _certainly_ answered her questioning look.

Granted, later that night Filipa did apologise and tell her that it was a one time thing— but Seth wouldn't even look at her.

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **May 27th**

 **Atlanta, Georgia**

Coming down from the rafters of the arena after getting their asses handed to them during the previous nights RAW at least have her some sense of hope. The crowd loved them, at least. And they were battered and bruised and Bobbi may have been on the receiving end of an RKO, but that was the worse she'd copped, and she couldn't really complain when Reigns had been triple power bombed through the announce table.

"It's said that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Seth spoke, his face turned down in a glare, eyes casted in a shadow. Behind him, Ambrose was pacing, rolling his shoulders. "Well in the case of The Shield— we're stronger, we're angrier, we're hungrier, and after what happened to us on Monday… we're more _focused_ than we've ever been."

On the tron, they rolled a vignette of what had happened during the contract signing. Their decimation, the RKO, the triple powerbomb.

Dean snatched the microphone out of his brother's hands and tapped the black padding, rolled his neck. "Now I'm sure that footage makes Evolution pretty happy, but c'mon. You should know by now exactly what you're dealing with here. See we're the kind of people— we just don't care. You beat us up, you leave us laying, you hit us with a sledgehammer in the head— we just _don't care_. And this Sunday at PayBack, it's no holds barred elimination… and that means anything goes and you're going to find out just how far we're willing to go. You're gonna find out just how _low_ we're willing to sink and Evolution— you're gonna have to ask yourselves a question; just how _crazy_ are you **_willing to get?!_** " Dean was so angry he was shaking. **"** Be at your best, boys, bring everything you got and bring two of 'em because the _hounds_ are gonna be off the leash and this is gonna get real, **_real_** ugly!"

"On Monday night, Stephanie McMahon talked about choices, about how Monday night was a _night of choices,_ " Bobbi mimicked the woman as best she could, quirked her lips up for a second. "And the choice her husbands group made? They're gonna wish they hadn't. This time next week, we're gonna be standing in front of you and Evolution is gonna be out of business and out of bones because these _hounds_ are gonna break all two hundred and six of them. Your choices are pretty limited, Triple H. Make the right one."

Seth had the microphone back in his gloved hands now. "And not only is this match on Sunday no holds barred but it is also contested under elimination rules which means… when I pin Randy Orton, he's gotta take a walk. Oh and don't worry, Randy— if you can't stand, I'm sure there'll be a stretcher nearby to wheel you to the back. You see, what starts on a level playing field can quickly turn into three on two, and from there, it can turn into three on one. And after we eliminate Randy Orton, maybe we'll _eliminate_ Batista. And maybe fate would have it that Triple H would be left out here by _himself_ in the centre of the ring circled by the Hounds of Justice. And if that were the case, we'll take our time, but rest assured we'll finish the job— we will _eliminate_ Triple H, and at Payback, the end of Evolution? It will be _extinction_."

"Evolution triple power bombed me through an announce table just like that on Monday night," Roman spoke now as he pointed at the announce table. " _Big_ mistake. Because on Sunday at Payback, we're gonna torture you with kendo sticks, with chairs, we're gonna break barricades, and we're gonna destroy every single announce table that we have available. And we're gonna win _again_. **_Believe that and believe in The Shield._** "

And in the middle of the ring, Bobbi clenched her fist and joined the three already pressed together.

 **PAYBACK Pay Per View**

 **June 1st, 2014**

 **Chicago, Illinois**

 **The Shield vs Evolution: No Holds Barred**

She wasn't with her boys as they walked down. Instead, Bobbi was lead out through the crowd alongside a security guard, a black jacket covering her cropped top and bare stomach. A cap was pulled low over her silver hair and strands were tucked up to stop them from getting harassed, but soon enough, all eyes were on Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins.

When they were pressed up against some steel barriers, the ring a few rows in front of them, she could see the six men standing in the ring across from each other.

The Hounds of Justice look focused, ready to sink their teeth into Evolution once more, and Randy Orton and Batista looked just as ready to spill some blood. But Triple H? He was glancing around, hazel eyes searching for the woman that had made a fool of both him and his wife.

As the referee moved towards him, Hunter's arm shot out and his fingers twisted in the striped shirt His mouth was moving but she couldn't hear anything over the noise of the audience, and then the referee was running to get a microphone.

"This match is _not_ going to start until your last member decides to join us!" He yelled into the mic as it was pressed against his hand. He pointed a heavily taped finger at Reigns. "Do you understand me, Reigns? Where is she?! Get her out here _right now!_ "

Dean rolled his head back, ran his fingers along his collar bone, lips pulling up, and Roman glanced across at Seth, raised his eyebrows.

As a team, they dashed forwards. The bell rung as soon as the first fist was landed, and the fight— because it definitely wasn't a wrestling match— spilled over the ropes immediately. Reigns on Batista, Ambrose on Orton, Rollins on Triple H. But Ambrose and Orton were the first into the crowd and with the shift of bodies and heads, Bobbi could no longer see where they were or what was happening. The footage on the tron was focused on the fight between the other men.

Reigns and Batista had shifted over to near the tron, Batista dropped back first onto the light stands.

She glanced back to the fight ringside just in time to catch brown eyes staring at her, and then his face was twisting as he pointed towards her. He was running then, launching himself over the barricade, and Bobbi dashed between the crowds of people and through the time keepers area, throwing a wink Jerry Lawler's way as she finally stood ringside.

But Hunter was still running after her, coming back the way she had done, and then they were stood face to face for the first time that night.

"You wanna play games with me, Arlett?" He hissed at her.

Rollins yelled out and she ducked just in time to see his boot sailing over where her head had been, catching Triple H with a dropkick that sent him reeling back against the announce table.

Bobbi spun and grabbed the back of Seth's neck and pushed her forehead against his, their smirks matching, and then she was ducking away, moving back through the crowd on the opposite side to where she'd been originally.

Fans were patting her chest, her side, and somehow her hat had fallen off and her silver hair was out in a curly mess. Her pale eyes zeroed in on two young children, sitting front row but to the side, and they stared back at her with wide eyes. Smiling softly, trying to avoid the prying hands, she knelt in front of the younger one. "Think you can hide me for a bit?"

He was nodding enthusiastically and the smile on his face was adorable, and she glanced around at the people screaming her name.

"This isn't going to work if you guys are loud, okay? Gotta keep quiet, yeah?" A couple of them were nodding and sitting back down, and she stared at the younger males with pleading eyes. "Can you please just let this work? For me?"

Finally the raucous noise had died down.

Bobbi glanced at what she assumed was the mother of the child and when the brunette nodded, she picked the kid up and sat down, pulled him down onto her lap. "Can I borrow your hat?"

"Yeah!"

In the time that she'd been trying to work the audience in her favour, some form of normalcy had returned to the squared circle and an actual match was taking place.

She watched as the fight became wrestling and cheered when the crowd cheered, booed when Evolution members got their punches and kicks in. The kid on her lap was quiet as a whistle and maybe he couldn't believe that he was sitting on her lap.

At one stage, the COO thought that he'd spotted her, pointing into the crowd in a way that had the cameras following his line of sight. It wasn't even close to where she was sitting, but that didn't stop the new-found want to find the female Shield member, didn't stop Hunter from looking for her. It wasn't until he stepped into the ring across from Reigns that his hazel eyes locked on her pale greens. That was enough for Roman to take control of him.

The next couple of minutes in the match up saw The Shield run Triple H into the ground. First Reigns, then Ambrose, then Rollins. At one stage and with a boot pressed against The Games face, Ambrose had yelled "c'mon Hunter, who's the man now!"— but momentum had then shifted the other way.

Bobbi was up and out of her seat when Batista and Triple H double timed on Ambrose. The kid was yelling now, and she glanced up at the tron just in time to see a brief frown flash across her face.

When Triple H was tagged into the match, he walked to the corner and pointed at her, screamed " _you watch your boys fall!_ ", but his momentary shift of focus had let Ambrose get just enough air into his lungs to toss The Game from the ring.

The men got themselves back into the squared circle and tagged their counterparts into the match, and as quick as it had morphed from a fight to a wrestling match, it was back to a fight, an all out brawl.

It was Triple H and Rollins brawling in front of her. Harshly, Seth was flung into the padded barricades like a rag doll and then hazel eyes were locked onto hers. Fire on arrogance.

Bobbi stood and set the child down on the chair, flicked the hat from her head, and motioned out rudely at the COO. "C'mon," she called cockily, "you just gonna stare at me all night and do nothin' about it? You wanted me out here, remember?"

He was over the barricades then and as fast as he was, Bobbi was just that little bit quicker. She ducked and pivoted around audience members and guards and was laughing as she led Hunter on what seemed like a wild goose chase, but as she was looming up to a control area, a streak of blonde caught her eyes. Instinctively, Bobbi fell to her knees and slid under Seth's flying figure. And Triple H may have been old, but he wasn't obsolete— the man caught Rollins and almost impaled him into the ground with a spinebuster so hard it rattled _her_ bones.

Momentarily Triple H seemed to care more about the match than her and he was darting back towards the ring to try and help Orton in his fight against Ambrose.

"Seth? Seth!" She scurried forwards along the ground and slapped Rollins a couple of times on the chest, waiting until his eyes opened before breathing out in relief. "Oh, thank God. You good? You alright?"

"Yeah."

When Bobbi gazed back towards the ring, what she saw had the blood in her veins turning to ice.

All of Evolution were teaming up on Reigns, preparing to put him through a table, faces turning in delight at the prospect of taking out the first elimination.

So Bobbi ran.

Didn't even think about it, didn't even think of what she'd do once she got there.

But she was over the barricades as Reigns was being hauled up by Orton and Triple H and she dove forwards, crashed her shoulder into the back of Batista's knee hard enough that the man crumpled to the floor.

Reigns was the next to hit the floor then and suddenly all three members of Evolution were staring at her with a burning anger.

Crawling into the ring as quick as she could, Bobbi watched as they surrounded the three sides she was facing. Directly across from her was Hunter, and his eyes were sparkling with satisfaction and she could just picture the ways he was going to torture her when he finally got his hands on her.

But as soon as the men were standing on the apron, Batista was being pulled off. The same with Orton. Both Ambrose and Rollins had recovered and were buying her some much needed space.

Still standing across from her though was the COO. He was between the ropes then and her feet were moving, mimicking the way he was shifting around the ring, pale greens on browns. She pulled the zip down on her black hoodie and revealed the Hounds of Justice shirt she'd completely torn to pieces, the make-shift crop top not even clinging to her body, but when Hunter's eyes moved down, it wasn't to stare at her shirt— he was looking at the strapped ribs. The ones that had just barely healed during her time off.

He shot forwards then and Bobbi flung herself sideways, rolling up onto her knees on the other side of him. He turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"This how it gonna be?" Hunter called. "You just gonna avoid the fight, huh?"

"You call it avoiding, I call it you being too slow."

"Cute."

"I know I am."

Like a game of cat and mouse, or maybe it was like Wile Coyote and the Road Runner— this constant need to put Bobbi back in her place and failing every time, propping her up even more so… Triple H couldn't break her. He would never get the chance to, because the only people that could potentially hurt her like that were the boys she was partnered with. And they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

"You think you can use my _wife_ for leverage in something that doesn't involve her and get away with it? You think you're smart enough to out manoeuvre _me?_ Smart enough to get out of this alive?" Hunter laughed and spread his arms, his eyebrows still raised. "I _own_ this company. I can get you whenever I want where ever I want and I can make it sweet and slow and so painful that you'll never know what hit you, you'll never think that it was me who did it, and you'll think about it years later, you'll think about what I'm telling you right now and you'll realise— you'll realise that it was me all along, that it was me who broke you, that it was me who _finally_ put the untouchable Barbara Arlett back where she belongs; with the nobodies. You really wanna go down this path, Arlett? 'Cause that's where you'll end up."

He was right. Mostly. After this, he would make her life a living hell trying to break her spirit, but he would never be able to touch her. So Bobbi smirked, lifted her chin. "This your plan? You gonna break me by _talking_ me to death?"

The side of his mouth curved up but there was no humour behind the movement.

The two had been circling each other in their war of words, and over The Game's shoulder, she could see that the four other men had spilled down the walkway. Randy Orton had gotten his hands on a chair, used it to lay an aggressive attack on Rollins and Ambrose, but as long as she stood in this ring, as long as she distracted Triple H, they would never make the cover.

Bobbi glanced behind her for just one second. Just in time to see the Samoan man pull himself up against the apron, just long enough for their pale eyes to meet, his face pale, but then it became a look of panic.

Because when she turned back, Triple H was already halfway across the ring, his arm outstretched and sinking into her stomach in a gut punch and the air was gone from her lungs, the force lifting her completely off her feet. Collapsing onto her knees, she didn't even have time to breathe in before his boot buried into the side of her body. It was strong enough to send her toppling between the ropes, Roman's large arms reaching out to catch her just in time.

She sucked in a gasping breath and groaned in pain, large heaving breaths now matching the tears forming in her eyes, and then Roman was plucked away from her and tossed into the ring.

"If you want to survive tonight— if you want to survive in this company for more than a couple of weeks… _stay down_."

A ringside doctor was next to her quickly and she shoved him away just as quick, pushed back onto her knees with a hand wrapped around her stomach. She watched as all three members of Evolution just… _destroyed_ him. A spinebuster, stomps, at one stage Batista was pushed out to drag the steel steps inside the ring, and then they were stripping the protective vest from his chest.

She watched Roman's pale face become sickly and twist in pain, listened to his screams of agony every time a kendo stick was brought down along the bare skin of his back.

He was being _slaughtered_.

And none of the Evolution members were even glancing in her direction. None of them cared. So as soon as she could breathe properly, she was crawling forwards on hands and knees to the apron, slipping a hand underneath the ring and curling her fingers around the steel head of a chair.

The crowd were screaming at her with encouragement, trying to give her some form of strength, and Bobbi slowly climbed between the ropes.

Fire was shifting under her skin and her pale green eyes were full of rage and her jaw was set. Roman was collapsed on the steel steps and there were already welts along his perfect bronze skin. All of Evolution were surrounding him. Pondered their next move. But the moment that Randy Orton realised she was there, the moment their eyes met, she swung it as hard as she could against his head with a scream that was more animal than human.

Orton collapsed on the spot and fell gracelessly from the ring, and calculating eyes were then staring at Batista. He ran forwards at her with his arms out and his face twisted and she dashed towards him and ducked, spun quick enough to drive the steel into his back. And then twice more, just for good measure.

And now she stood between Reigns and Triple H, her lips pulling back over her teeth as he stared at her with wide eyes.

Was he surprised?

Did he not think that she was capable of ruining his party?

Did he _honestly_ believe that she'd just lie down and let them beat up men that were like her brothers?

When she screamed out _"_ ** _c'mon!_** _"_ , the sound was guttural and barbaric and hardly human and the entire arena heard it reverberate off the walls. Heard her anger, her pain, her strength.

Bobbi whacked the chair on the ground once more and her lips twisted into a smile. Behind Triple H, Ambrose was back to his feet, drawing Orton back down the walkway and away from them. Behind her, she heard Roman groan in pain as he pushed himself through the ropes and out of the ring. And again, it was just her and The Game.

She raised the chair in a hand and then dropped it to the mat. "You wanna break someone?" she called at him, "you just said you were gonna do that to me. So why don't you do it?"

No sooner had she held her arms open that Triple H ran at her, crash tackling her, throwing both of them between the ropes and onto the padded floor. Somehow she ended up on her stomach, his arms crashing down on her back in clubbing blows. The noise the audience was making was pulsating through her sore back, her sore muscles, and then he was gone.

Through silver hair, she looked on as Triple H tackled Ambrose to the ground. They attacked Dean, Randy hitting his elevated hanging DDT to him off of the light stand, and there was no Seth Rollins.

No Seth Rollins?

To get a better line of vision, Bobbi crawled back into the squared circle and tried to search for her stablemate, her half blonde brother. He was no where to be found. And once more Reigns was surrounded. Bobbi knew she wouldn't get there in time to save him but crawled to drape herself on the ropes, tried to get closer to him.

But… there was movement across the top of the titantron, there was— was that Seth Rollins?!

A bubble of laughter tumbled from Bobbi's mouth. Because _really?_ Really? _Really?!_

He launched his body off the tron and flew through the air, arms and legs wide, crashing on top of Evolution and Reigns.

"Rollins!" Bobbi called. " _Seth! Get up!_ "

Barely moving— but he was moving, moving towards her and the ring and he was crawling in and then his face was in her hands and she pressed their foreheads together again, pale greens on deep browns and she was smiling at him so widely it almost split her face.

"Go," he murmured at her.

She ducked out of the ring just in time to see Rollins catch Batista with a heavy boot to the face. But just as soon as he was recovered enough to try and finish the man off, Batista launched forward in a spear.

" _Seth!_ "

The Animal was setting up for his Batista Bomb and Bobbi was freaking out, raking her hands through her hair, and Reigns and Ambrose weren't compass enough to help their brother, so Bobbi launched herself back in and hit a dropkick to the back of the man's thigh. She stepped out of the way just in time to dodge Reigns, watched in glee as Batista was hit with a spear and then he was eliminated.

Batista had been eliminated.

Bobbi didn't have time to celebrate.

In the next moment, Rollins had fallen victim to an RKO. She pushed herself from the ring once more as Reigns made the save on the cover, and the ring was chaotic because Ambrose was suddenly in, slamming a chair against Orton and then throwing him down into a Dirty Deeds.

One, two, three.

Orton had been eliminated.

Covering her mouth with shaking hands, Bobbi wanted to jump and scream in glee, but even if it was three on one in favour of The Shield, they still weren't out of the woods yet.

And the next few moments were proof of that.

As he slipped into the ring, Triple H rammed his arm between Ambrose's thighs, grinning as the low blow had her man keeling over in pain. The Game chicken-winged Ambrose's arms behind his back in an attempt of a Pedigree, and then Bobbi was yelling at him, words coming out of her mouth crazy fast, and Triple H tossed Dean aside without a second thought. It seemed the only thing that Bobbi was doing was sliding into and out of the squared circle, because she was standing in front of the COO once more.

"Go on!" she yelled, "Finish me!"

He flew forwards and she threw a leg out, sinking her boot between his thighs in a low blow much the same of what he'd just done to Ambrose, and the crowd responded raucously. Her hands were on the Shield member then, rolling him from the ring to stop a cover from happening

In the ring, where Batista was supposed to have left, he hadn't — instead, he'd hit Reigns with a devastating spear.

And then it was just Triple H and Roman in the ring.

Bobbi noticed the snake, the apex predator on the adjacent side of the ring, noticed his prying hands looking for a weapon… and then he pulled out the sledgehammer. It was slid along the apron and into Triple H's waiting hands, but then Bobbi was running and crawling and on her feet, kicking the weapon from his hands and picking it up. She was still on her knees but then hands were on her ankles, pulling her back out, Ambrose wrapping his arms around her stomach as she gloated in triumph.

Almost like a flash, Rollins had jumped off the top rope and slammed his knee across The Game's face, and then his body was almost folded in half with Reigns' spear.

One, two, three.

That was all it took.

Bobbi sunk to her knees and so did Ambrose, his arms still wrapped around her waist and they were hugging, burying her face into his sweaty neck, laughing in relief and _they'd won_. The Shield had won.

For the last time, Bobbi and Dean moved between the ropes and into the ring and Triple H's fallen body was on the mat, but Bobbi still wrapped her arms around Reigns and hugged him, hugged Rollins. Roman placed a booted foot on top of The Game. That was it. They joined their fists over his chest and Bobbi felt like she was on top of the world, that nothing could stop them now.

Finally, The Shield were the best in the business.

* * *

 **whoop, another one smashed out of the park! the next chapter is going to be... interesting. AND I PROMISE SEXY TIMES, if you like that stuff.**

 **to my wonderful reviewers Raquel the writer** (neither did Bobbi! hope you enjoyed this :)!) **, calwitch** (i find sometimes it just freshens up a story, but that might just be me! BOOM, you got it! come get a cookie ;) also yeeessss lame puns are awesome, so that's okay. and if there's cheesecake, i definitely want some!) **, and harley quinzel** (honestly, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it just then, oops. and there was a little Bobbi and Dean scene in this but not much, but like i said- i promise sexy times for the next chapter! it's a must! with the whole Filipa/Seth thing, i hope this opening cleared it a little bit, at least, and i promise there's more to come! hope you enjoyed, lovely!) **thank you so much for your kind words!**

 **let me know what you guys thought! did you like Bobbi's inclusion in Payback?**


	33. Chapter 33

**RAW Live**

 **June 2nd, 2014**

 **Indianapolis, Indiana**

They opened RAW with a vignette of Evolution versing The Shield at Payback. Images and short clips of the fight, of the victories, the commentary that followed each elimination, and their union over a fallen Triple H. It showed Seth's suicide-like jump from the tron and the way Bobbi had stood between Triple H and Roman Reigns with a chair, showed Ambrose pulling Bobbi out of harms way. Reigns' final spear.

Whether they'd seen Payback or not, the whole WWE universe knew that when Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Bobbi Arlett, and Roman Reigns were on the same page— they were unstoppable.

And Triple H new that as well.

Evolution cut the first segment of the show, but Triple H's night was going from bad to worse.

"Funny thing is," he'd said, "they think they've won. The Shield think this is over. But I don't lose, I never lose, I win _always_. This will not be over until The Shield exists no longer. And that happens _tonight_."

His cry for vengeance was cut short when Batista quit. And just like that, Evolution had imploded.

Like The Shield had said they would, Payback had been Dave's final stand and he'd fallen and the end of Evolution was extinction.

More out of rage than anything else, a match between Randy Orton and Roman Reigns had been set up for the main event of the night, and Bobbi was grinning like an idiot because she knew the outcome of that match even before it started.

"What are you so happy about?" Roman questioned, glancing over at her with a confused expression.

"I just—" Bobbi took a breath and smiled again, leant back against the comfort of the couch. "I feel like nothing can touch us, y'know? We're on top of the world and we beat the best in the business, _we're_ the best in the business. Might as well fuckin' give us all the titles now, huh?"

The Samoan laughed at her and shook his head. "I'm sure they've got something planned for us, Bob, don't get too carried away."

By the time Rusev's segment had started, The Shield were making their way up to their usual spot, mostly ignoring the crowd save for a few sneaky smiles here and there, and Bobbi almost completely forgot the belting that Reigns had took last night at the hands of Evolution until she saw a grimace flash across his face.

"You right, big man?"

He barely raised a shoulder in a shrug and slowly twisted his back, wincing at the movement. "Back's still a bit sore, honestly. I'll be good though."

"You sure?"

"You threw the term manly man around a couple of months back," Roman chuckled, "Think I deserve that title right now."

Bobbi laughed back at him and slapped his chest lightly. "Don't let your ego inflate too much, Ro."

"There's no room for his when yours is that big," Dean murmured at the both of them. He threw Bobbi a cute little wink as she narrowed her eyes.

A little softer, she said "what's his problem?", motioning to the silent Seth Rollins.

Roman tried another shrug. "Something to do with Leighla, I think."

Bobbi still hadn't forgotten about what had happened between Filipa and her fellow stablemate, but had simply chosen to let her anger subside for a few days before bringing up the subject again.

And then their music was echoing throughout the arena.

When they stepped out into the spotlight, there was no other feeling that matched it. She felt elated, ecstatic, ready for whatever else the company decided to throw at them. Dean nudged her back, muttered a quick 'settle' as they walked down the steps.

With a microphone in each of their hands as they slipped between the ropes, Roman was pacing, Dean was shifting around erratically, Seth stoic in the centre. And when Dean smirked, Bobbi could help but laugh in glee.

"How do we look?" he asked the audience. "Cause we feel _great_. Bruised, beaten up? For sure. 'Cause last night we faced our biggest challenge to date, a no holds barred elimination match against Evolution. And when that napalm settled, we did exactly what we said we were gonna do— a clean sweep, we eliminated _every single member_ of Evolution without sufferin' a single casualty. Now _that_ is what I call **_domination!_** " He dropped the microphone and all four shared a smile.

"Triple H, you should know better than to pull an woman into your pathetic games," Bobbi called sardonically then, "I mean, especially when that woman is _me_. And _especially_ when that woman is a part of The Shield. See, The Shield? Oh yeah, we're hurting. We've been hurting for a _long_ time. But that's only physically. Bruises are only skin deep, and you're standing back there with a shattered _soul_. You told the world that we weren't going to adapt, but the truth is? It was _you_ who didn't adapt. This may be _your_ company, Trips, but it's _our_ yard."

Seth stepped forward, spoke slowly, lowly. "Adapt or perish, that was the whole deal, right? Last night at Payback, The Shield _adapted_ while Evolution _perished_. And earlier tonight, the whole world was a witness to their implosion," he chuckled. "And the reason Evolution perished was because even though they are three of the greatest superstars in history of this industry, last night, they were not _one_ like The Shield. In the end? They were just three strangers who happened to be standing on the same side of the ring."

"They weren't brothers," Roman said as he laid a hand on Seth's shoulder. "They weren't _family_. The people standing in this ring are _family_." He held his hand open, said "this is Evolution", and then closed his fist. " _This_ is The Shield. So Randy Orton, bring your ass out here and let me break your jaw with the symbol of excellence."

There was a moment where the only thing she could hear was the crowd, but when Evolution's theme blared into the arena, all four of them turning to stare at entrance ramp.

As Orton was introduced, Bobbi's eyes narrowed in on the weapon Triple H had slung over his shoulder— the sledgehammer. He brought it down, stared at the metal. Then put it back where it was.

Seth was running then. She watched with a smirk as he grabbed a few chairs, then turned to face the two men once more. A four on two situation, even with a sledgehammer, wasn't going to go in Triple H's favour. But just to be sure, Seth was bringing in the backups.

Bobbi frowned when the two men paused just after the ramp ended. Randy with that smirk, Triple H with the black eye.

Their music faded.

Triple H brought the microphone to his mouth.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet," The Game said, "what I do better than _anybody_ is adapt. Last night was Plan A. Tonight…" he trailed off as he took the sledgehammer off his shoulder, looked at it in admiration, "Plan B. There's _always_ … a Plan B."

Dean glanced across at her and then past her to Roman, but Roman was glancing at Seth. They were all unsure of what he meant, of what his Plan B was. Dean stepped forwards and Roman mimicked and then she did as well, staring at the COO in a challenge, but his brown eyes were smiling and then— then her world seemed to break.

The sound of steel chair hitting back reverberated through the entire arena and she'd no idea what had even happened until Roman fell forwards, hanging from the ropes. And as soon as she'd turned, there was a chair swinging towards her ribs, lifting her off her feet, and the scream that fell from her mouth was borderline ear-shattering.

Seth— Seth had taken the chair… and had— betrayed them.

He'd betrayed them.

They were on top of the world, on top of the company, and just like that… the rug was pulled from under their feet.

Bobbi's entire being was shaking in rage and she just barely heard the sound of the metal slamming against Dean's back, her breath heaving as she tried to stand up again, and pained green eyes met callous, calculating brown ones. She'd barely said his name before he was twisting and sending the chair against her back, and the following shriek was just as loud as the first.

She was in so much pain and a wave of nausea rushed through her body and she could feel the impacts on Dean's back, all eleven of them, and the chair was mangled with the force of Seth's swings.

And this wasn't storyline, this was personal, it was _personal_ , how _could_ it be storyline based with the way his eyes were staring at her, staring at Roman and Dean.

More swings, more against Roman and against Dean and then he was back onto her, swinging relentlessly until she was just a withering mess on the apron, and she couldn't stop the tears, couldn't help but curl up into a ball and heave in her breaths.

He curb stomped Dean onto the steel chair.

And finally when she managed to glance up at him one last time, there was a flash of remorse, of guilt. Then just a blank slate.

The three of them were curled up, pain radiating through the ropes and to the almost silent crowd.

What a family they were now.

Betrayed and broken and in more pain than ever.

Seth was gone— was that the end of it, then? The end of the assault?

No, no… different treads, different shakings. Bobbi pushed herself onto her knees and slowly crawled to where Dean lay motionless, and then she saw Randy Orton lower another chair onto Roman's back. Once more. Then so many more times she lost count.

He was already in so much pain, how— how could they do this to him?

Orton slammed the chair down onto his back with so much force Reigns arched his stomach, his face visible to the camera, and Randy was stripping him, removing the vest and the singlet to show the welts and the bruises on his back from the previous night, some from just now. Orton took his time gazing mockingly into Roman's agonised face. Then hit him with an RKO onto the steel chair.

Bobbi tried so desperately to push to her feet, but as she gazed up at the two men entering the ring, she knew she couldn't. But Triple H saw her movements. He curled his fingers over the head of the sledgehammer and crashed the weapon against the side of her head.

She spun limp to the mat.

Heavy breathing, barely awake through the pain. The noise of the crowd over her body.

Like Triple H had said he would, he'd destroyed what made The Shield in the only way The Game could.

And Seth was his final piece.

 **—**

She didn't talk to anyone when they were helped back stage. Sure, a grunt in response to Doc. But not to Seth, not to Triple H or Stephanie or Bray or Paige or Filipa.

She felt like the whole world had collapsed in on her and there was one man to blame for that and it was Seth Rollins. If it was storyline, job _fucking_ well-done to the Creative department and Stephanie for thinking that up, but bad _fuck up_ with making the decision not to tell them. They'd told Seth, obviously… how long had he known he was going to betray them like that? Days? Weeks? And he'd kept it to himself. She didn't know which was worse.

But when they made it back to the room, when Bobbi had slowly peeled the medical tape from her ribs and put on her usually calming sleepwear, she couldn't stop pacing. Dean had long since collapsed on the bed.

"He— he betrayed us," she felt like she was going insane, a bubble of laughter ripping from her chest even when it wasn't funny. _Seth had betrayed them_.

Dean frowned from where he was lying on the hotel bed. "Bobbi…"

"No, Dean!" Bobbi exploded, throwing tape in her hand across the room. He didn't flinch, but her boyfriend was watching with cautious eyes now. "He fuckin' _betrayed_ us!"

"Calm down, Bob, it's a job and he probably wasn't even told until tonight, alright? Seth, he— he wouldn't do that to us, okay?"

"Stop defending him, just stop— stop talking, I can't— I can't— I really don't know how the fuck you're not mad right now," Bobbi growled in frustration. She tossed herself face down on the bed next to him, didn't respond when he trailed a thumb over bare skin at the base of her spine.

"Toots, just calm down," Dean offered softly. "Not all people are vindictive, not everyone's out for blood."

"No, they just seem to be out for mine."

"Bobbi."

She knew from his tone that she was being childish. Her pale eyes glanced across the bed to his. "I know."

"What can I do to make it better, puddin'?"

"Well, _Mista J_ ," Bobbi drawled in her best Harley Quin impression. She pushed onto her hands and crawled over to where he was laying, threw a leg across his waist, settled herself onto his stomach. "Since you asked so nicely…"

Smiling as he entwined their fingers, the smirk on Dean's face deepened as she tried to push back against his strength, tried to keep his arms flat on the bed— but it wasn't any use, he was too strong for her. "Yeah?" he murmured back, "what did you say to me last week? That I liked watching my cock slide in and out of you?" He shifted into a sitting position and pulled her arms out behind him, drew his mouth against her ear. "You love it when I'm inside of you balls deep, thrustin' and pushin' and slammin' and makin' you beg for it, huh?"

When he let her hands go, Bobbi moved them back to cup his face, pulled away so she could push her mouth against his. It was sensual, her tongue pressing into his, hands trailing through his unruly hair. She couldn't help a loud mouth slipping from the back of her throat.

And then he was leaning them backwards, dragging his mouth down her chin, down her neck, stubble scratching every inch of bare skin, and his hands were shifting under her top and pulling it over her head, arms curling then around her waist, pinning their stomachs together. His lips were feather light over the curve of her breasts and Bobbi arched her back to push her chest higher. The pink nipples swelled in reaction to his touch and she could feel his smirk against her skin. A slight gasp fell from her body when he sunk his teeth into her tender flesh.

"Dean…" Bobbi warned, already remembering the last time he'd had his way with her breasts.

He simply looked up at her with dark, clouded blue eyes and a dimpled grin.

"No sex if you're going to ruin my skin."

Just to drive her point home, Bobbi completely dislodged herself from him and walked into the bathroom, threw a glance over her shoulder to snicker at the look of disbelief on his face, the raging hard-on pressing against his slacks.

"Seriously?!" he called at her.

She raised her shoulders in reply.

Glancing into the bathroom mirror, Bobbi prodded the area around her nipple and sighed, knew it would bruise. His mouth had that affect on her skin.

Bobbi didn't even hear Dean come into the bathroom, but then his arm was around her hips and driving her ass back into his crotch, his hand gripping her throat, pulling her head back into his shoulder.

"Think it's funny?" Dean growled into her ear, "You think it's funny when you deny me like that?"

"I'm denying you?"

He was smirking again. "Damn right, you're not."

As his hands moved to rip the cotton shorts down her thighs, Bobbi squeezed the vanity with both hands and stared at his movements in the mirror. Now, the bare skin of her upper thighs were pressing against the counter. Dean's moved his arms back in front of her and cupped a breast in one hand and splayed the other's fingers over her stomach. His chin was back at her neck.

"Two can play this game, babe."

Bobbi watched, raptured, as he trailed his fingers down over the plains of her stomach, over the mound, and he'd barely touched her when her hips jolted forwards.

There was a breathy chuckle in her ear, words that she wasn't listening to, and her eyes slid shut, lips parting. Breathing more laboured, Bobbi tried to stay perfectly still as his fingers made the same journey again. When they pressed against her folds and stopped, then trailed further down to her thigh, a shaky breath pushed from her lips. She opened her eyes and stared right into Dean's through the mirror.

Another loud gasp sounded when he dug his fingers into her skin and lifted her knee onto the bench.

"You like it when I'm in control, yeah?" Dean murmured lowly. "Like it when I take control of your body like it belongs to me."

"And you like it when I call you Mox, don't you baby?" Bobbi breathed back in a sultry tone.

His eyes darkened.

She smirked at back at him. "Two can play, right, _Mox?_ "

The pants were gone from his body in a swift movement and his hand was at her stomach again, pressing her ass back into his hips and Bobbi's jaw went slack at the feeling of his length dragging along her skin. She reached around her body and curled gentle fingers around him, guided him right to her entrance, and then dropped her head back with a breathless mewl as he pushed inside of her.

Immediately, small noises were falling from her mouth. The angle of her body had him gyrating right against her g-spot and for a moment everything was white, everything was pleasure, everything was just him and where he was, like he was surrounding her entire body.

"Bobbi…" Dean sighed into her hair, "look at me."

Her eyes were partially opened then as she looked at him through the mirror, and she could see the undeniable pleasure washing across his face with each thrust, the unruly hair falling across his face, the way his open mouth was still slightly curved in a smile, and his eyes showed the same burning lust that was in hers.

Arching her neck back to hold her open lips against his, their breaths intermingled, and he was drinking in her moans and her gasps and pulling them from her body effortlessly.

The hand closest to her clit dropped and massaged the bundle of nerves softly, circular motions, and Bobbi almost couldn't breathe because his length was pressuring her g-spot and now his fingers were rubbing against her clit and her head rolled onto his shoulder, eyes almost rolling back into her head.

"Did I say you could come yet, toots?"

Right next to her ear, clear as day, and she almost wanted to say _fuck you_ and come anyway, but his movements had slowed and she knew she wasn't gonna reach it at all if he stopped.

"Fuck you," she said anyway.

"Believe you are," Dean laughed back at her. "No, you don't come until I do, you hear me?"

"Come when Mox tells me to," Bobbi recalled, mind shifting for a moment back to the time he'd hissed those words into her ear.

Again, Dean just smirked at her.

And then he resumed his blinding thrusts.

Bobbi fumbled for anything to clutch onto, anything in front of her, but apart from the vanity, the bathroom bench was clear and so instead she reached back, knotted her fingers through Dean's dirty blonde hair and harshly pulled at it, listened to the toe-curling groan that sounded in the back of his throat.

Her hips started to meet his thrusts and the sounds of their breaths, their moans, their skin meeting echoed in the tiled room and there was a sweat building on the surface of both of their skins, and she imagined the way he looked behind her, glistening muscles and back and waist and ass and then she was moaning even louder, pushing his name from her mouth, and then she was begging, "please, please, please" with every thrust.

And finally she could feel the friction as he pulsated inside of her as he stilled and came with a heavy groan against her throat. She could feel the warm liquid inside of her body and that was it, Bobbi's legs trembled and her body shuddered in mindless rapture as she finally reached her climax. Breathtaking, white hot, shooting from her core to her chest and spreading out.

She was still shaking as he took himself out and she gingerly let her knee slip from the bench, braced herself against the vanity.

When Bobbi opened her eyes, Dean was watching her with a small grin. "You right?"

"Overkill on the orgasm, stud. I can't feel my toes."

He chuckled and gently spun her in her arms, dropped his lips to hers in another sensual kiss.

"Round two?"

"Fuckin' kiddin' me right now, aren't you?"

Dean shrugged. "Usually you'd love round two."

"I might faint."

"Am I that good?"

She scoffed at him and pecked his nose. "Good angle, is all."

"Oh, I'm sure."

* * *

 **my heart just dropped every time i thought of writing the June 2nd RAW, and i feel like i haven't done it the least bit of justice, but what can you do with something that emotional... *heavy sigh* smut, though?**

 **to my beautiful reviewers Raquel the writer (** indeed they do! **), calwitch (** thankyou! we'll find out in the coming chapters more with the Filipa/Seth issue, i promise :)! **), quinzel harley (** jeeeez, that's an essay for a review! thankyou so much about the kind words! also, how could i forget about Bluetista! trust me, in my notes, thats what i called him! yeah, talk about heart breaking... mine was aching the entire time i was writing RAW. i know you'll like the Mista J reference, hope you enjoyed the rest ;)! **), and Shield316 (** yay! glad you're up to date :D wanted to do something different with the females, so im glad you like it! also, that scene in chapter 30... my friend was in tears reading it, i felt horrible! but yes, everyone's happy now that they're smooth sailing again. hope you enjoyed this! **), thank you so much for reviewing and drop a few words to tell me what you think about this update!**

 **much love x**


	34. Chapter 34

**SmackDown Taping**

 **June 3rd, 2014**

 **Cincinnati, Ohio**

Like she was the plague, death walking— Seth hadn't come near her. She'd been searching for him without searching for him. Eyes scanning but not seeking him out.

He was staying in a different room, staying on a different floor, had moved it without telling any of them. Just like he hadn't told them about their split. He'd known. He'd known for weeks that he was breaking away from them, that he was getting the shot none of them would.

But as soon as she thought she'd actively have to hunt him down, Stephanie and Triple H had called a meeting with all of The Shield's members. Former and present.

God, every part of her body ached.

And no, no, no… she wasn't upset anymore. She was _furious_.

"Now, before we start, I just wanted to tell you guys how sorry we are," Stephanie began. Her apologetic glances were moving between the three people sitting in front of her. Seth was leaning against the wall, some way behind them, and Bobbi couldn't bring herself to do it, to look at him. "We honestly thought that Seth would have mentioned something to you, and we apologise because of the shock and the pain you were put through last night. But… I mean… you _have_ to admit… it was much more authentic when you guys found out with the rest of the world."

"This is purely storyline based, so we just wanted to make sure the air between you guys is clear, and we feel part to blame because of that," Hunter said, continuing his wife's speech.

The Samoan man next to her shifted. "How long did you guys know this was the way?"

The couple in front of her shrugged, but Stephanie was the one to reply. "There's nothing else for you guys to do as The Shield— you've taken on everyone and beat them. We knew before the feud started with Evolution that it would be the last of The Shield."

"And plan wise?" Dean asked then. "What's in store now?"

"We have a few ideas, but nothing's cemented yet. Money In The Bank is next, and after that we're pushing for a feud between you and Seth. Roman's going into the title chase, maybe a feud here and there."

Out the corner of her eye, she saw Roman straighten. "I'm going after the title?"

Hunter nodded. Then turned to Bobbi. "We have a couple of ideas with you again, but leading into SummerSlam, you're going to be feuding with Steph."

She didn't recoil but a shock ran down her spine. "You're getting back into the ring?" she asked the woman.

"There was some real good feedback when you used me to stop the attack a couple of weeks ago, so we're pushing that angle and we'll make it a bit more entertaining as well," Stephanie offered. "Look, nothing's set in stone, but we just wanted to make sure that you guys were alright with each other. It was our fault none of you knew, a miscommunication really, so… blame us."

They were being dismissed. _Finally_.

Bobbi stood hastily, didn't even wait for Dean as she pushed from the room, but then there was a hand wrapping around her arm and she turned, Seth staring at her with forlorn brown eyes. "Look, I'm really sorry I didn't say anything—"

Her face was blank but her words were laced with rage. "Having someone I love betray me like Barrett did was horrible, but having someone like _family_ to me drive the literal and metaphorical knife into my gut— that's a whole new level, Seth. There aren't no fuckin' excuses, because you had plenty of time to tell us what was going on. But you lied right to our faces. And now you're next in line to grab the brass rings, huh? I hope you're fucking proud of yourself." Bobbi tilted her head then and there was a slight tug to the corner of her mouth, knew Roman and Dean were staring at her cautiously. "Get's lonely at the top, golden boy, what a _shame_ you won't be able to share that with anyone."

Later that night, after Dolph went off script and laid some heavy words on Rollins and Triple H, Bobbi corned the beaten man and dropped a quick kiss onto his cheek for sticking up for them.

—

The week seemed to pass in a blink of an eye. Instead of heading back to Vegas with Dean, she'd given him a long kiss at the arena and instead took a short flight back to Chicago, finally getting her bike from Phil's car park from all those months ago before riding up to spend some much needed time with her mother.

"My baby," the elder Arlett had breathed, pulling her daughter into the kind of embrace only a mother could.

"I'm fine, Ma," Bobbi whispered back. Even though she wasn't.

She hadn't cried about Seth's betrayal since it had happened. But now she could feel the tears welling in her eyes, and maybe she was over-reacting but… she felt like she'd lost a best friend. And she didn't know whether she was going to get him back or not.

"Nonsense, you're not fine. Come inside and let your mother take care of you, _on n'est jamais trahi que par les siens_ ," the seamless transition from English to French was such her mother that the silver haired women felt the tears come harder and harder, and she didn't need to ask Andrea Arlett what she meant— Bobbi already knew.

We are always betrayed by ours.

 **RAW Live**

 **June 9th, 2014**

 **Minneapolis, Minnesota**

Once more, it was Triple H and Stephanie McMahon who opened the show.

"Adapt or perish. That was always what it was… Seth Rollins adapted. And The Shield? Well, look for yourself."

A vignette of the previous weeks' betrayal followed Hunter's word and Bobbi visibly shuddered when she saw the three of them on the ground.

And when that finished, Hunter still wasn't done talking. "…but I believe in Seth Rollins. Dean Ambrose, Bobbi Arlett, Roman Reigns… tonight, what is left of the once dominant Shield will whimper to the end. Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, tonight you will step into the ring in a six man tag team match against Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family."

He was smirking, tilting his head into the camera, cocky look in his eyes. "I say _man_ because Bobbi Arlett will be in her _own_ tag team match tonight! I think it's about time to put her where she belongs, so tonight? Tonight, Bobbi Arlett will be teaming up with WWE Diva's Champion Paige against Alicia Fox and Aksana. Good luck, enjoy the change of scenery."

"And I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and also say it might be tough for Ambrose and Reigns to find a partner in that locker room, the locker room they have run rough shot over for the last two years, so this is probably more like a handicap match…" he looked so proud of himself, like every piece in the puzzle had fallen perfectly into place. "Ladies and gentlemen, take out your cell phones and get ready, because tonight you will witness history as The Shield whimpers into extinction. Seth Rollins adapted. And tonight, The Shield _perish_."

 _—_

" _Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta… The Shield._ "

Together, the three remaining members of The Shield stood at the top of the stairs for the last time as a faction. The camera panned across her stone-like face and fire shifted in the pale depths of her eyes. Behind her was Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns and _none_ of them looked like they were going to stand back and hear 3MB talk shit about them. _3MB_ , of all groups. Fuckin' bullshit.

There was a nice yellowing bruise across her temple, the same colour bruising fading across her stomach and back. No strapping tonight, though, because the whole world needed to see what Seth Rollins' betrayal had done to her, so the cropped Hounds of Justice shirt she'd worn at Payback was covering her wrestling top, usual black slacks and thickly heeled boots on her legs and feet.

They began their descent down the steps. And granted, in the ring, McIntyre, Slater, and Mahal didn't move. But if they thought that The Shield wasn't as dangerous because they were down a male member… well, they had another thing coming.

Bobbi launched herself over the padded barricade after Ambrose, lined herself up with Slater. And despite what had happened earlier in the night, he was still going to go along with the plan.

"You think you're better than me, Arlett?" he laughed.

She didn't waste time. While Dean and Roman assaulted the other two members, Bobbi had slipped into the ring and circled Slater. And then she stepped forward and swung a leg out, buried her boot between Slater's thighs. The crowd's reaction was raucous.

As her boys continued their aggressive beat down on McIntyre and Mahal, she found herself crouched over the fallen superstar, fisting a hand in his orange hair to stare right into his pained face. "I know I'm better than you."

Soon enough, when Ro and Dean had finished in their attack, Dean was stood in the middle of the ring with a microphone in his hand.

He paused, tired to calm himself down, drummed his fingers against his collarbone. "The Shield was _untouchable_. And we will go down in the history books as one of the _greatest_ sports entertainment groups— _ever_." He whacked his hand off of Roman's chest, turned to nod at Bobbi, rolled his head. "We dominated WWE, we beat everybody. Even Evolution."

The crowd cheered the members in the ring and Bobbi lowered her head and dropped her eyes, smiled.

"But we weren't healthy. We had a _cancer_ inside of us. Little did we know…" Dean's finger was bouncing off the microphone, his whole body shaking with rage, "that cancer's name… that cancer's name was _Seth Rollins_ ," he took another deep breath, like just the name sent murderous tendencies through his body. "History is full of people like you, Seth, everyone in this _building_ knows someone like you, Seth. The kinda guy that would _stab his own siblings in the back!_ A suck up! A sell-out to The Authority!"

Dean paused but his body was still shaking with anger. "Now, when I get the opportunity to rearrange your face — _which I will_ — your nose isn't gonna be here anymore," he dragged his hand to the side of his head, "it's gonna be over here, by your _ear_. I say _ear_ because you're only gonna have one left. I'm gonna rip your _dirty, stinkin'_ hair out by the roots and stuff it in your mouth, there'll be _plenty_ of room where your teeth used to be. _Seth Rollins,_ " banging his fist against his chest, taking another deep breath, Dean looked ready to self-combust, "my _brotha_ — you are scum. And we are lookin' forward to what that scum has to say tonight. We want you to stand out here in this ring in front of the whole world and lie through your teeth. We want you to stand out here in the middle of this ring, in front of the whole world, and we want them to hear Triple H's words comin' out of your mouth. We're going to listen to every word of it. _And then we're gonna beat the hell outta you_."

The microphone slapped to the ground noisily and the audiences' response was deafening as he paced past her, groaning and running his hands through his hair, trying to contain himself.

Bobbi scooped the mic into her gloved hands and stepped into the spot Ambrose had vacated. She flicked the silver hair back over her shoulder, rolled her head back to look at the roof. The tron above her and beside her showed the bruising on her back she'd left visible.

"Somewhere, there's a rule about stabbing your brothers in the back," she began, face deadpanned. "The same rule exists for stabbing your _sisters_ in the back. I was bruised black and blue last week and you can see what remains, you can see that this is as real as it gets." The corner of her mouth pulled up in a humourless smirk. "You put the knife in my back and you twisted it and twisted it, didn't even think twice, did you? So let _me_ be _real_ clear with you. All the history we have as family? Forget it. You've just started a war you _can't_ win. Even without you, we are _still_ The Shield. You think you're irreplaceable? You think we can't fill the void? Watch us. The Shield is angry and The Shield is _vengeful_ and that Evolution 2.0 thing you've got goin' on will get you no where, but let it happen— I wanna see you die trying as you fall. The only people who've _ever_ had your back? You turned on 'em. And whether or not you get out of this alive… that's not my problem anymore. You're _done_."

Bobbi raised her chin and all the anger drained from her face save the dangerous curve of her lips. "You think you know who we are? What we're capable of? You haven't seen the _half_ of it, little brother."

Screams and yells fell down around her, every person in the arena completely at her disposal.

There was a large hand on her shoulder and then Roman was slipping the microphone from her grip.

"Seth, you committed the most unforgivable sin." Roman growled, shook his head. "You're the scum of the earth. There's things you don't do in life— you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't piss in the wind, and _you don't ever stab your family in the back_. But you're only part of the problem. The other parts are Randy Orton and Triple H. Randy Orton, he runs around here and he thinks that _everybody_ owes him something, he thinks that he's the _face_ of the company. When I get my hands on you, Randy, you're gonna be the _ass_ of this company. And when I'm done with him, I'm coming for you, Triple H. The _king_ of kings, oooh," he crowed down the microphone, acting scared. Then his face deadpanned. "We're gonna have our _own_ Game of Thrones. _Believe_ that."

—

Even though Bobbi was getting ready for her match, she still had an ear zoned in on the TV and on what Seth Rollins was saying.

"…to me, that wasn't a big deal. I was just doing what was best for business."

"I think my boot in your face is best for business," Bobbi spat at the man filling the screen. The girls preferred her non-heeled wrestling boots, so she was tugging on the laces aggressively while glaring daggers. Almost everyone bar Paige and Filipa had fled the room. They seemed the only one to be able to cope with Bobbi's anger and snarky comments.

"You don't think I have the right to destroy my own creation? It takes an _architect_ , a _mastermind_ to put together The Shield," Rollins went on. "You think _Dean Ambrose_ is in anyway responsibly for that? Dean Ambrose is a lunatic. Given a week to his own devices, he's face down in a ditch."

And now her blood was boiling, because _was this even scripted?_ Or was Rollins just stepping on them some more?

His words continued to ring through the room. "Barbara Arlett? It was _my_ idea to introduce her into The Shield? Without me, she wouldn't have ever _dreamt_ of being a part in something as big as The Shield— without me, she would have just been another pretty face in the Diva's division."

There was a hand on her shoulder, but Bobbi shrugged it off with a deep breath and sat back to listen to the rest of his speech.

"And Roman Reigns… the _golden_ boy. You'll never see anger or fury in a man like you see in Roman Reigns. But without someone to harness that, to control it, he's nothing, he's _worthless_. Dean Ambrose and Bobbi Arlett and Roman Reigns are _nothing_ without me, they owe me every ounce of success they have _ever_ achieved."

Michael Cole's face was next to pop up on the TV. "Many people will argue that The Shield was about four individuals who came together to form an awesome team, not just about one man…"

"You know, I guess we'll find out later tonight when the uh… the _pathetic_ remnants of The Shield have their last hurrah out here against the Wyatt Family…" he shook his head, a small smirk on his face, "but let me ask you a question, Michael. Why is this such a surprise? I took The Shield to the very top…"

"We took us to the top," Bobbi hissed at the screen. She shook her head then, turned to Paige and Filipa, gathered her leather vest in an arm. "I'm done listening to this shit."

But even as she stalked out of the locker room and towards the left side of the stage entrance, she could hear him saying that he _bought in_ to the evolution of himself. Paige stayed straight and she and Filipa peeled off to the side, but the Spanish woman was exuding anxiety and Bobbi wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. So she kept her ears trained on the words ringing through the arena and instead chose to be angry.

"He bought in? He _bought in?_ " she laughed, shook her head, and Filipa was staring at her with caution. "Buy into my fist you _piece of crap!_ "

"Bobbi…"

"I don't want to hear it."

"…and maybe to Dean Ambrose, Bobbi Arlett and Roman Reigns, we _were_ family. But to me? We were just _business partners_ and I severed a _business_ relationship. I know Arlett's back there gettin' ready for her handicap match, but Ambrose said that he was gonna let me say my piece and then they were gonna come out here and kick the hell out of me. Well…" there was a long pause, the crowd booing him. "I've said my piece. Where you at, boys?"

"Comin' through!"

Bobbi spun when she heard Roman's voice, eyes barely locking with slate blues before there was a hand on the back of her neck, fingers tangling in her hair as she was leant backwards over the arm wrapping around her waist, and then Dean was crashing his lips down on hers. A surprised noise at the back of her throat sounded and as quick as he was there, he was gone, slapping her ass on the way out.

She took a long breath, tried to calm her heart beat, whispering an "okay," more to herself than anyone else, because _okay?_

Filipa was open mouthed in the same surprise. "That was… uh… something."

"Definitely something," Bobbi breathed back. She struggled to remember what had been making her mad in the first place until she heard Cena's theme, but then she was calm enough to finally ask what was bothering her friend.

She turned to Filipa. "So what's _your_ deal?"

The wide brown eyes suddenly became wider. "Huh?"

"You're being really weird."

"Well, I mean…" Filipa hesitated and the was that curve to her lips that Bobbi recognised as a defensive move. "You kinda went ape shit last week and haven't talked about it since…"

"It happened once, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And it's not gonna happen again until Leighla decides on how she's gonna handle the situation, right?"

Filipa knew what Bobbi meant. Seth had taken Bobbi's threat seriously and called Leighla to tell her, and Bobbi wasn't really surprised when the woman had sent her a message afterwards. Visibly distraught even through simple words, she'd told Bobbi that they weren't splitting, but instead taking a break while she tired to figure out how to handle the entire thing. And then she'd asked Bobbi to keep an eye on Seth's behaviour in regards to Filipa— and honestly it was just a big mess.

"No, it's not gonna happen again."

"Then I don't see what the issue is. I got mad, I'm over it. You should be too."

But Filipa's face was still pulled in a frown. "Bobbi—"

It was Alicia Fox's music over the sound system then, and Filipa's words were cut off straight away as Bobbi spun to peek out from under the hanging light stands. She caught a glimpse of the two women prancing down the stage and stood, shook her muscles out.

"I'll talk to you after the show, yeah?"

Filipa stared at her disappointed but then nodded and walked away, and then Bobbi was all alone.

She tugged at the end of messy fishtail braid her silver hair was pulled back into, waited until The Shield theme was echoing through her bones before she was pushing the curtains away and ducking under the light stands, grinning at the way the crowd reacted once more to her presence.

In the ring, Paige was already waiting for her. Bobbi didn't bother her with a greeting and instead motioned for her to step into the ring, to start the match against Alicia Fox who was ready and waiting.

Standing half-interested in the corner and not really paying attention to the happenings of the match, Bobbi found herself getting increasingly bored.

If this was what life was like with The Shield broken, she wasn't buying into it.

The Divas they had were good, but Bobbi had tasted what it was like to tousle with the guys, had tasted that adrenaline and that feeling of weightlessness— she wasn't ready to let go of that yet.

The two in the ring had started there but hadn't stayed there. Paige had tossed Alicia out between the ropes and followed and planted both her and Aksana with an open-handed slap, but now she was in the centre of the ring being tossed around by Fox. One minute of being held in a chokehold with a knee in her back led the crowd to chanting 'we want Bobbi'… and she'd never felt so supported by a live audience _ever_.

When Fox made the mistake of tagging Aksana into the match, Paige easily took control of the Lithuanian.

The dark haired woman was pushed into the corner and the crowd were cheering as Paige held her hand out so Bobbi could tag herself in, and for a moment, the two women were just staring at each other. Paige extending that olive branch, Bobbi wondering if it was okay to trust the newly crowned champion. She had very good reasons for her current trust issues.

But Bobbi reached out and slapped her hand down onto the pale one in front of her.

Her style of wrestling was definitely unorthodox in comparison with the women she stood on the apron with. An arm around Aksana's neck and driving blows into the woman's stomach looked almost boxing-like. Michael Cole had often gushed about her Maui Thai background and he was probably having a field day calling it now.

Lazily, Bobbi threw Aksana down onto the ground to cover her, immediately pushed away when the diva kicked out at two.

She stood leaning against the ropes until the woman was back on her feet. Walking forward like she had all the time in the world, Bobbi prepared to throw the Lithuanian up into a vertical suplex when the woman blocked the move. Aksana locked her arm around the back of Bobbi's neck and fisted a hand in her pants, tried to lift her up in a snap suplex, but Bobbi was the next to block the move and shoved herself away from the Diva.

And then her face was breaking into an amused grin. "You wanna suplex _me?_ "

There was no response.

So without waiting any longer in hopes for one, Bobbi ran forwards and dropped onto her knees, skidding until she was at Aksana and wrapping her arms around the back of her thighs, lifted the woman up and over her body, slammed her face down into the mat. Bobbi was up right away and wrapping her arms back around Aksana, pulling the woman to her feet belly to back, and she could actually hear the breath leave Aksana's lungs when she was thrown back in a German suplex.

" _That's_ how you do a suplex!" Bobbi yelled at the prone Diva.

And just for fun, she turned to the crowd and did a little theatrical bow, grinning at the raucous response.

Her eyes darted to the tron and she watched herself closely and then she turned to the woman writhing on ground pathetically. She was pretty sure that the entire arena could see the gears in her brain whirring. Face deadpanned, Bobbi pulled Aksana up and chicken-winged the woman's arms behind her back, shoved her head between her legs and then hit a flawless looking Pedigree.

Then she was at the ropes. "You wanna play _games_ , Hunter?" yelled Bobbi, eyes burning with rage. "How about I keep these matches as short as what measures _your_ masculinity and see how fast those ratings drop again, huh?"

Turning slowly to Paige, she slowly extended her hand for the tag in and waited until the Brit had won the match before she walked out.

—

Watching her boys go up against the Wyatt Family without her was an odd feeling that sunk low in her stomach. With no Seth, with no silver-haired chaos creator, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose didn't look in the least perturbed, but Bobbi knew Dean and knew that glint in his eyes. He missed having her out there as much as she missed being out there.

So when Cena helped them pick up the win against one of their toughest enemies, Bobbi was sprinting to the ring with glassy eyes, unshed tears, launching herself onto Dean and clutching onto him tightly.

He said nothing as he held her back.

And then she was giving him a small smile and pushing past him to wrap her arms around Roman, laughing a little when he dropped a kiss onto her head. It almost felt normal.

But John Cena was standing across from her. Not Seth Rollins.

Bobbi took a moment to gather herself before reaching out to shake the man's hand. "Thank you," she said softly.

He simply sent her dimpled grin.

There was an hand at the side of her head she leaned into Ambrose's body for a second before thrusting her hand out to grab Roman's, lifting both his and Dean's arms up into the air to the sound of an ear-deafening response.

Pressing a shaking hand against her mouth to try and stop the tears, Bobbi turned once more to Dean, running a finger along his bloodied split chin. "Reopening an old wound, huh?" she asked him softly, grinning up at him. "Can't live without a little bit of pain, can we?"

"You've been wrestling with horrible ribs for how long?"

She gazed up at him with a teary smile and sucked in a long breath. "Time to begin again."

The Shield was broken and Bobbi and Dean and Roman would never be fully healed from Seth's betrayal, but they were standing tall and they had each other.

It was time for the next chapter in their lives to begin.

* * *

 **okay so this kinda loomed up from out of no where, but this is the end! this is the crescendo of Three's A Crowd, Four's A Party, this is the end of my baby, my Shield fic, and I'm not lying, I was kind of crying while writing the ending of this. This fanfiction was a Shield fanfiction, and it would feel wrong if I kept writing on it. The Shield has split, so my work here is done.**

 **Let me just take a moment to be a little sentimental... how far have we come? Thank you all for joining me and Bobbi through this. Really, thank you. To everyone who's ever commented, to every follow and favourite, to every reader. We wouldn't have gotten here without you.**

 **But with that being said, who the hell am I kidding if I think Bobbi and Dean's story is even CLOSE to finishing - nuh uh, that's not how I work. So YES OF COURSE THERE'S GOING TO BE A SEQUEL. I don't know what it's called yet, but I will post the first chapter here as well as on a new story, so keep your eyes peeled for that.**

 **To my wonderful reviewers Raquel the writer (** Seth's just being a shit, honestly! **), quinzel harley (** another essay! fuck me! kidding, i love them ;) yeah, an emotional roller coaster for both reader and writer, tbh. and same, honestly, i'm just going to send my sex scenes to my next boyfriend and get them to replicate. the only way to go about it, really. hope i didn't screw up the holy grail of promos, tell me what you think! **), my guest (** I was crying while I was writing it and God, I've never felt my heart sink more than it did writing that. Thank you for the kind words! **), and Shield316 (** yep, I was definitely shedding a tear or two! Thank you for the words, and I hope this chapter helped keep up the confusion a little... we'll tie up some loose ends in the next instalment! **), thank you and my followers/readers so much for hanging with me through this and coming with Bobbi on her journey.**

 **THE END**

 **(that feels dramatic, you all have my love!)**


	35. Chapter 35

**CHAPTER ONE**

She was moaning his name, pushing air she didn't have in her body from her lungs, her forehead creased, and Dean was shifting on top of her, thrusting and pushing and groaning into her breast, hot breath falling across her skin, and she didn't have the energy to hold onto him any tighter but _God_ did she want to.

"Oh, my God," Bobbi hissed, throwing her head back onto the pillow with another moan.

"I mean, I guess you could call me that if you wanted to," Dean huffed onto her chest, his clouded and sultry gaze burning into her eyes, dimples forming on his scruffy cheeks in exertion, and _God_ , Jesus Christ, her toes curled at the gravel in his voice and the look of his body on top of her. "You gonna come for me, huh?"

His hand was already moving from the bruising grip on her waist to the bundle of nerves at the base of her navel, barely managed to push a " _shut the fuck up_ " from her mouth before she was gasping and climaxing, her body shaking in pure bliss, mind lost in the pleasure of a seemingly endless rapture. Her walls tightened around his length and she could faintly feel his lips lock around her nipple, feel his movements become more erratic, and then he was almost collapsing into her body with release.

Moments later he was falling next to her, staring up at the roof with a peacefully satisfied look on his face, his mouth slightly curved, fluffy dirty blonde locks falling back onto the pillow.

Bobbi shifted on the bed and turned into him. Placed a gentle hand on his chest, curled her fingers over the soft patch of hair.

"I won't ever get tired of doin' that," Dean murmured, glancing down at her.

"What, having an orgasm?"

"Fuckin' you."

Bobbi rolled her eyes at him and shifted onto her ass, said "You're so romantic," before dragging the sheets with her as she stood up.

Even ass-naked on the bed, Dean didn't have any shame as he watched her pull on some underwear. " _What?_ " he squeaked, "I can be romantic! Flowers and chocolate and— other shit, right? That's what you mean?"

Bobbi stilled and raised an eyebrow at him. "Flowers and chocolate and other shit?"

"That's being romantic, isn't it?"

"Where's my flowers and chocolate and other shit, then?" she deadpanned.

Dean's mouth was gaping like a fish out of water and Bobbi tried not to laugh as she walked into the hotel bathroom, pulling on some street clothes while cataloging all the bruises and hickeys she'd have to ask Shannon to cover.

"If you want romantic, why don't we go on a date, then?"

"I think we kinda skipped the whole date thing and went right to the fucking, Dean."

"Yeah, but…" there was some shuffling and a grunt and then he was standing by the door frame with a pair of shorts on. "I mean, we skipped it. So we'll just go back and do all that corny stuff that you girls like."

Again, Bobbi found herself mimicking him with a smirk. "Corny stuff?"

"Like the movies and dinner, long walks on the beach, picnics in the park kinda thing."

His blue eyes were so wide and hopeful that Bobbi found it hard to _want_ to say no. So instead, she pushed up onto her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. "Whatever you want, Dean."

It felt like hours later. But it wasn't.

Bobbi was curled up again on the bed recovering from a gruelling workout, Dean stuffing his suitcase with clothes. She turned to him.

"How are you not plotting Seth's murder right now?" she murmured quietly. "You have trust issues just like me, but I'm the only one around here that seems to be— I don't know, reacting like this."

He shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I'm mad at him for not tellin' us. But there's gonna be a time in that ring where I can beat the livin' shit out of him and get paid to do it, so I'll just wait. And in the meanwhile, he can kiss my ass and try and get back in the good books again. It was a mistake, the first he's made in— well, the first he's made with me _ever_. Fool me once…" Dean trailed off and sent her a reassuring grin. "Don't punish him too hard for doing his job."

—

 **SmackDown Taping**

 **June 10th, 2014**

 **Green Bay, Wisconsin**

It was the beginning of SmackDown and the remaining members of The Shield stood tall in the ring.

"I don't need to tell you what you already know, so I don't need to tell you what The Authority are trying to do, it's clear as day," Dean started their promo, fingers wrapped around the mic precariously. "Triple H, you think you hold _all_ the cards, you think you stacked the deck against _us?_ Well listen up, kiddo. We're not gonna wait for you to deal, we're gonna flip that table right over and we're coming for ya' throat. As for puppet suit Seth Rollins, my uh—" he turned to Roman with a smirk, "well, I guess he's not my brother anymore… my former _business_ partner? I'm shuttin' down the Seth Rollins business _for good_."

"What'd he say Monday night on RAW?" Bobbi asked the men in the ring. "That he _bought in_ to the evolution of Seth Rollins? _Well_ , Seth, I might be nothing more than another pretty face, but I think there's something else you should buy into called a _retirement village_ , 'cause when we're done with you, each of us individually, that's where you're gonna end up. Business partners, right? Always giving some top tier advice." The silver haired woman took a few moments to bite down on her sass, but it didn't really work. "Also, Trips, just so you know— I _did_ enjoy the change of scenery, I even took to doing your Pedigree— well, _better_ than you. When was the last time you sold a finisher like that, huh?"

Dean had the microphone back in his hands but was eyeing the pacing Samoan standing off to the side. "I know _that_ look," he motioned to the anger shifting in the pale depths, "I feel like you may have a message for another spineless corporate stooge… so why don't you give it to 'im?"

Roman smirked in response. "I hope you're enjoying your night off, Randy because when I get my hands on you, you're gonna want a permanent vacation. And like I said Monday night on RAW— you think you're the face of WWE, but you're not the face, you're the _ass_. And you're also just a spoiled little kid who gets whatever he wants from his— _daddy_ , Triple H. You didn't even qualify for the championship ladder match, you were just given the opportunity like everything else. But guess what? Everybody wants to be WWE Champion, and who knows— maybe Dean or I will just beat you to it."

"Or me!" Bobbi quickly mouthed, raising her shoulders with a half-assed shrug.

"Wow."

Triples H's voice came from no where and all the humour from Bobbi's face drained as she turned to stare at the tron above the entrance ramp. "Wow guys, that— that— I gotta hand it to ya', that _really_ sounds good, but unfortunately there are only so many slots available to _qualify_ for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship ladder match."

Beside her Dean was spitting words under his breath and she watched the way Hunter's face became smug. "I only really have one qualifying slot available and there are— two of you. It seems _really_ unfair. So there's only one fair way to decide who gets that shot." Held up in front of the screen was a silver coin. "You two are _brothers_ , I wouldn't want to do this any other way, so… here we go," he flipped the coin, then smiled as he saw the result. "Dean Ambrose! Congratulations, Dean Ambrose, _you_ get the opportunity to qualify tonight. I say congratulations kinda loosely because you're gonna go up against… _Bray Wyatt_."

Dean was still grumbling next to her, Roman reaching out a fist to bang the lunatic's chest softly.

"Oh and— uh, Roman? Bobbi? I know how you three like to do things _together_ , so uh, I'm gonna ban you from ringside and I'm gonna ban the rest of the Wyatt Family from ringside as well. And Dean, Bobbi, you might wanna just pick up your little things and leave the ring right now because _you two_ are banned from ringside for Roman Reigns' match. In fact, Bobbi since you're not going to be ringside or in a match, why don't you just take the night off, huh? Wouldn't wanna miss your _brother's_ matches, would you? 'Cause Roman… _I've got some bad news for ya._ "

—

Trying to find Filipa was like trailing after smoke— she'd slip through Bobbi's fingers at the last second, disappearing for ages at a time, returning when Bobbi was needed for an on screen moment.

As soon as her eyes locked on the elusive woman, she called out a " _hey!_ ", smiling when she turned around. "Drinks after?"

Filipa nodded. "Sure."

And so when Bobbi was in some street clothes, a droopy singlet that showed just a sliver of her toned stomach, heels that had her up at her usual height in the ring, Dean's eyes wouldn't leave her figure.

"Where you goin', toots?"

"Drinks with Filipa."

He stood from the chair and curved his fingers around waistband of her jeans, pulled her body in towards him with a smirk at his lips. "I don't get an invite?"

"Girls night, stud."

Dean ducked his head to press his lips against hers gently, hands slipping around to curl his fingers against the curve of her ass, and Bobbi found herself melting into his touch. "I can bring some of the guys, make it a post-work celebration. Let you two have your girl time," he breathed.

"Whatever you want," replied Bobbi, the woman already wrapping both arms around his neck and twisting her fingers through his freshly washed hair.

But when Dean winced, Bobbi pulled away quickly. "Hey— hey, you okay?"

"Did a number on my shoulder," Dean said quietly. He glanced down at the joint which had been the focus of Bray's attacks during the main event of SmackDown, slapped it a couple of times. "It'll be good tomorrow."

Pale eyes zeroed in on the bruise along his bicep, her fingers shifting to run over it softly. "Then she was gazing up at him. "You gonna get Doc to check it out?"

"Depends. If it's still givin' me grief by Friday, yeah."

"Good boy," Bobbi smiled, pressing another kiss to his lips. "Let's get crunk."

He snorted at her and grabbed the handle of his suitcase, wheeling it behind them as they made their way to the car park. "Did you just say _crunk?_ "

"Yep."

"Lame."

Almost twenty minutes later saw them pulling up outside a dingy looking bar. They were out of the car and pushing through the doors, greeting a few of the people that had accepted Dean's invitation to come out, ordering their choice of drink from the bar. Her eyes locked onto the Spanish woman she was supposed to be spending the night with and Bobbi leant forwards to kiss Dean's cheek, walking away from him to sit at the bar next to Filipa.

"Ready to get crunk?" Bobbi said with a smirk

Filipa cracked a smile at that, shaking her head. "Bring it."

"See, that's how you respond." When Filipa sent her a questioning look, Bobbi raised a shoulder. "Dean made fun of me for saying crunk."

The shorter woman snorted.

Conversation with her friend was surprisingly stiff. Small talk, talk about work. It wasn't hard to gulp down beer after beer when there was nothing to say. And when Seth pranced into the bar and and sat with a group of guys, smiling and laughing and occasionally glancing their way, Bobbi realised with a start that he was looking at Filipa. _Back_ at Filipa. Because her brown eyes were burning with lust, staring straight at him.

"I see the way you're looking at him, Pip."

She was silent, dark eyes staring down into her drink now.

"You remember what we talked about?"

"You mean what _you_ talked about?"

Bobbi recoiled. Her pale eyes narrowed at the woman who still wasn't looking at her. "I'm sorry?"

"You just— you just _assume_ you know what's best for everyone around you and then make us go by _your_ terms, by _your_ rules. Oh, Bobbi wouldn't like this, we have to do this because Bobbi said so—" Filipa broke off with a dark laugh and let her head fall onto her arms, dark eyes staring at Bobbi behind strands of hair. "If you weren't so blinded by your own problems, by your own love life, maybe you would have realised me and Seth were a long time coming."

Bobbi sat back with her eyebrows at her hairline. "Anything else you wanna get off your chest there, Filipa?"

"What if I don't wanna wait for what Leighla decides on?" The woman burst out, throwing her arms out wide, startling the bar tender. "The fact that she's _making him wait_ says a lot about her, especially when it was _just a kiss!_ "

"What happens when _just_ a kiss turns into _just_ a blow job? Or it turns into _just_ sex?"

Filipa was glaring. "He's not even happy with her."

"That's his choice to make, Pip."

" _That's his choice to make,_ " Filipa mocked her, turning her head to gaze back into the empty tumbler. "I mean, who gave him the right to look so _fuckin'_ cute with those puppy dog eyes, huh? Who gave him the _fuckin' right_ to say 'I just need someone to talk to' and then— and then _corner_ me and kiss me?!"

Bobbi stayed silent as her friend ranted, occasionally glancing at her.

"It's not like— not like I didn't want him to kiss me. But he goes, ' _I don't wanna say anything'_ and then kisses me and I have to— to be hush hush about the whole break up thing because he doesn't think…" Filipa trailed off. Almost like she was realising through her alcoholic induced haze who she was talking to.

But it hadn't been quick enough. "The whole break up thing?" Bobbi asked slowly. "What _whole break up thing?_ "

Filipa moaned, dropped her head back onto her arms again. "The Shield break up."

It was mumbled and the silver haired woman couldn't really hear the words over the music, so she leant forwards, eyes narrowed. "Say that again."

"He told me The Shield was splitting, okay? He told— he told me that Hunter had approached him and offered a new angle and that he said yes, but he—"

"You knew?"

Guilty brown eyes found Bobbi's.

"You knew and you didn't say anything?"

"He asked me not to…"

Bobbi wanted to smash her head against the counter repeatedly. She knew that she shouldn't have still been upset about the whole _betrayal_ thing, but it was hard not to when everywhere she turned, there were more and more secrets finding the light of day. First the kiss, then the split, now this. And with the common denominator always being Seth, Bobbi found it beyond hard not to get angry.

But instead of self inflicting her pain, Bobbi chose to gulp back the rest of the Corona. "Well, at least you didn't betray his trust."

"Bob…"

"It's fine."

"It's not— he told me not to say anything because for starters, you were just getting back into the right headspace with Dean and he didn't wanna ruin that, okay? He didn't… it wasn't a move of malice, Bobbi, it was him not wanting to make you unhappy."

There was a tug at the corner of her lips. "Lose lose. Make me sad by telling me beforehand, make me sad by betraying me in the ring."

Filipa said nothing.

"Like you said, always tiptoeing around me, huh?"

"That's— I didn't mean it like that…" she drew a deep breath and motioned to the bar keep for another vodka and coke. "You know how I get with my words when I have alcohol in my system, Bob. Look— none of us have to tip toe around you. And I mean, when it comes down to it, you're a chill person, you go with the flow…"

"But?"

Her eyebrows pulled together. "But I feel… I feel like you're leaving us out. I don't know, maybe I'm just over thinking things. But you're either always with Dean or training or talking about wrestlin' with the guys and…"

"Are you jealous?" Bobbi asked incredulously. "You're mouthing off at me because you're being left out?"

"It's stupid, I know it is—"

"Jesus Christ, Pip. So I'm in the shits for being consumed by my love life, I'm apparently difficult to deal with, and I'm forgetting my friends."

"When was the last time you hung out with Bray?" asked Filipa.

And… Bobbi paused at that. "I talk to him all the time—"

"Or the last time you caught up with Phil?"

"Damn," Bobbi muttered, shaking her head a little, laugh bubbling up from her chest. "Didn't realise that being on the road nearly 300 days of the year isn't as taxing as I'm making it out to be."

"You didn't even _tell_ me that Craig and Sarah were having a break, or that Craig has _met his daughter_. You know, the one he never knew about?"

"Shut up."

Filipa's mouth shut right away. Her eyes fell to the new drink that was in front of her, took a decent swig. "Sorry," she breathed a moment later.

"I don't have to see people all the time to still keep them in my life," said Bobbi. "I text Phil and Bray at least once a day, I talk to you almost every day we're at work, you've pretty much moved into my apartment. If you're mad at me because I forget to mention a few details about my family life here and there, I'm sorry. It doesn't come up in conversation, it's whatever— you never liked Craig anyway. And if you're mad because I'm telling you to stay away from Seth until his current girlfriend has split from him — which may or may not even happen — then whatever. Go get your heart broken. Break somebody else's heart while you're at it, too."

Without saying another word, Filipa skulled back the rest of her drink, grabbed her purse off the table and walked out of the club.

"Well that was great," she muttered sarcastically, motioning for another Corona.

"I'll pay for the lovely lady."

Bobbi glanced over her shoulder at the male voice, pale greens locking onto a typical drunk. He was barely standing, the smell of alcohol radiating off of his body, and Bobbi suppressed a sigh before climbing to her feet, shook her head at the bar tender before waving a couple of notes in his face. He took it without question.

"Don't want a free drink?"

Her head turned to the man once more. "I'd rather buy my own."

"Think you're too good for me, huh?" he snarled suddenly, reaching out with a flailing hand to try and grab her arm.

Bobbi sidestepped away from him, grabbed the Corona off the counter, sent the man a pointed look. "Just not interested. Back off."

The look in his eyes changed. Without having to turn around, she knew there was an intimidating Ambrose behind her, probably radiating waves of possessiveness. The drunkard quickly spun on his heel.

But when Bobbi turned around, saying "my knight in shining armour", it wasn't Dean behind her. It was Seth. The words turned to ice in her throat.

Seth flickered his eyes between hers and sighed, smoothed a hand across his beard. "I saw him eying you and Filipa off since I got in here, figured that he wasn't gonna go away without good reason to…" he trailed off, raised a shoulder. "You don't have to say thanks or anything—"

"Thanks."

The silver haired woman turned away without much more to say and instead brought the bottle of beer to her lips, took a swig as she made her way towards Dean.

 **RAW Live,**

 **June 16th, 2014**

 **Cleveland, Ohio**

They'd called her in early to go over measurements on her new ring gear. Secretly, she liked it much more than the gear they'd made her wear while she was with The Shield. And then they went over her new entrance music. When she'd pointed out the similarities between it and an instrumental version of _Bad Girls_ by M.I.A., even Stephanie agreed— but they kept it anyway. Again, Bobbi didn't really mind… humming the lyrics to herself as she walked down the entrance ramp would probably hype her up in the best kind of way.

Her tron reel looked awesome, a plethora of her kicking male ass and female ass, close ups of her smirk, the fiery green eyes.

The old blue spandex bustier crop top was in place across her chest, black faux leather joggers secured in place around her hips with a drawstring and black kick-pads covering black wrestling boots. Proper, actual wrestling boots now that she was swinging back into her own division— well, _after_ tonight.

The Shield dog-tags she'd been wearing for almost six months sat against her chest easily, black tape around her wrists, chains looping under her fingers. It was a different look, for sure.

"That's new," Roman said as she walked in towards catering.

Bobbi raised a shoulder, smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "It's not too shabby, I gotta say."

"They letting you keep the tags?"

"Yeah," she replied, fingers coming up to fiddle with them. "Not like I gave them a choice."

"That-a girl."

She flashed him a smile. "Speaking of, you seen Ambrose?"

"Thought lover boy was with you."

Both of their attentions turned to the screen broadcasting the match between Ziggler and Rollins then. "He's probably just gone to the gorilla a little early or something," Bobbi murmured slowly. She turned back to Roman. "How you holdin' up?"

"Could be better," he said, smiling a little. "Back's still killin' me."

"You talked to Seth yet?"

Roman shook his head. "Nah, not had the time. I'm sure sooner or later he'll find something to say, but… he pretty much lost all his friends in the space of a two minutes."

"He saved me." Bobbi said lowly. When Roman glanced at her, she shrugged. "From a drunkard last week. I dunno, Ro. I'm still mad at him, but… the more I think of it, the more I think I'm just over-reacting. He's still got a shit load to apologise for, no doubting that, but I kinda miss the fucker."

The Samoan laughed at her, shook his head again. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

A loud raucous erupted throughout the arena and Bobbi found her eyes drawn back to the screen. "What is he…" she trailed off, then cackled, threw her head back in glee. "He gave him a stiff shot!"

Seth's match against Dolph Ziggler had ended in a disqualification— a disqualification due to Dean. The man had jumped Seth, landed a couple of stiff jabs against the traitor's face. Now, Seth stood atop the ramp with a bloodied mouth, huffing and puffing like he'd just ran a marathon to escape her boyfriend.

"Wish I coulda done that," Bobbi sighed dreamily.

—

Almost thirty minutes later, Bobbi's new theme was filling the stadium. There was a moment of silence, then a loud cheer as she walked out from behind the tron. A microphone was dangling precariously in her hands, the woman slowly making her way down the ramp.

"Y'know, I know this stretcher was put out here for the main event tonight, but— I'm just so _tired_ I think I'm gonna take a nap," Bobbi said into the mic. She pulled the stretcher out on the padded flooring, laid back on it, stared up at the roof. "I feel like I'm in a therapist chair or something. Oh, yes, Mr Therapist, the bad feelings started when Seth Rollins stabbed me in the back with a chair."

Despite most of the crowd laughing at her, finding her antics at least a little amusing— Stephanie McMahon didn't. Her music was blaring through the arena, voice almost yelling soon after. "Cut the music! Barbara Arlett, I don't pay you to _lay on a stretcher_ and do nothing, I pay you to get into—"

Swinging up into a sitting position, Bobbi widened her eyes. "I'm— I'm so _sorry_ , Stephanie, but this lack of competition is just… it's _tiring_. You put me in a match and I win and… gosh diddly _darn_ , I guess I'm just too good, because guess what? Tonight, I'm not even scheduled to be out here! Would you believe that?!" She smirked as boos echoed through her ears. "You hear that, Steph? You're losin' business. And… just where or where is Sister Abigail, huh? Where is she? I can't see her! I haven't seen her since I put her back in her place way back— when, in April? WrestleMania? She's been a ghost on _that_ screen, hasn't she? _Mrs McMahon_ ," the words like venom rolling of her tongue had the other woman baring her teeth, "I would be in that ring doing my job if you had someone worthwhile wrestling. But here I am sat on a stretcher because _apparently_ you're entire team is incapable of doing that."

But as Bobbi sat on the stretch idly swinging her legs, she noticed the look of bliss cross Stephanie's face. "You know Bobbi, there's a locker room of people you've insulted and belittled during your tenure with The Shield. I mean, obviously there's gotta be someone out there who wants a little revenge?"

Her face split into a grin as 3MB's music played across the speakers. Bobbi mirrored the reaction.

" _Finally!_ "

* * *

 **well, _that_ didn't take too long! should Bobbi stay mad at Seth or forgive him? And what do you think about the whole Filipa situation? Is she stepping out of line or speaking the truth?**

 **to my wonderful reviewers quinzel harley (** I felt somewhat healed after writing that chapter? idk, we talked about it so you know what I mean! thank you so much for giving in to my harassing and reading this story, means the world to me, beautiful! hope the next instalment is just as good as this one! **), Raquel the writer (** thank you :)! **), R1verdance (** only this part of their story! I don't think I could survive if I actually finished it, gosh! thank you for the words! **), and my Guest (** I was crying writing it omgggg! hope you enjoy the next part of their story! **), thank you for the words! all of you reading this and interested in continuing on the journey with Bobbi should go follow, favourite, and review on the new story!**

 **much love, you wonderful people x**


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